[photopress:Beijing_traffic_jam.jpg,full,alignright]Beijing and Shanghai and more than 100 Chinese cities are to take part in the country’s first official urban ‘car-free day’. Sort of. It will not be a total overall ban — just selected areas but — hoorah — the ban also applies to officials in their black sedans.
The date will be September 22 and the day will be a reflection of growing concerns about congestion, pollution and global warming.
All of this is in contradiction to the fact that Beijing leaders have made creation of a powerful motor industry a cornerstone of industrial policy, and, at the same time, urban planners have often favoured drivers over the cyclists who once ruled China’s roads.
China last year became the world’s second largest car market and the third-largest car producer after the US and Japan. The sector is forecast to expand 15-20% this year.
In a report on the planned car-free day, the official Xinhua news agency said Beijing — where traffic jams are already a daily occurrence — was adding 1,000 new private cars a day, and that transport accounted for 20 per cent of society’s total energy consumption.
Public transport networks remain inadequate in many Chinese cities, while urban redevelopment means workers increasingly live far from their place of employment. However, the cities participating in the September car-free day have promised to ‘put into practice at least one new green transport policy’ and to improve public transport.
Source: Financial Times