It's school time once again, which means the return of the much dreaded traffic jams. While many around the world are still scratching their heads for possible solutions, the city of Beijing will take the bull by the horns and soon make road users pay.
The plan remains pretty vague as few details have been announced thus far, but it's clear that London will serve as inspiration. Over there, penalties of £10 (about $16) are levied against people driving downtown from Monday through Friday between 7am and 6pm.
Beijing officials hope that similar charges will encourage more people to use public transport and even buy alternative-energy cars. The amount of the charges has yet to be determined, though.
As a booming car market, China has been dealing with congestion problems for a while now. The capital has 4.8 million registered vehicles – a number that obviously keeps growing – and residents say the traffic jams are sometimes so bad the roads resemble car parks. In August 2010, a gridlock stretching over 100+ kilometres took drivers hostage for nine days.
Since the 2008 Olympics, authorities have been trying all sorts of measures to tackle the problem of congestion, including restricting car purchases, increasing parking fees, widening roads and expanding the subway system. Unfortunately, little has changed.
What do you think? Should major cities in Canada adopt similar solutions to alleviate road congestion and reduce pollution?
Source: BBC News
The plan remains pretty vague as few details have been announced thus far, but it's clear that London will serve as inspiration. Over there, penalties of £10 (about $16) are levied against people driving downtown from Monday through Friday between 7am and 6pm.
Beijing officials hope that similar charges will encourage more people to use public transport and even buy alternative-energy cars. The amount of the charges has yet to be determined, though.
As a booming car market, China has been dealing with congestion problems for a while now. The capital has 4.8 million registered vehicles – a number that obviously keeps growing – and residents say the traffic jams are sometimes so bad the roads resemble car parks. In August 2010, a gridlock stretching over 100+ kilometres took drivers hostage for nine days.
Since the 2008 Olympics, authorities have been trying all sorts of measures to tackle the problem of congestion, including restricting car purchases, increasing parking fees, widening roads and expanding the subway system. Unfortunately, little has changed.
What do you think? Should major cities in Canada adopt similar solutions to alleviate road congestion and reduce pollution?
Source: BBC News