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Beijing Olympics: 1.3 million cars banned to cut pollution

BEIJING: The daily commute got tougher on Friday for Lu Xiandan and millions of other stressed out Beijingers, as they coped with a ban on 1.3 million cars in a dry-run for next year’s Olympics

Office worker Lu, 27, said she had to wrestle her way onto the bus during rush hour as car-less commuters swarmed subways, taxi ranks, and bus stations. “I go by bus every day but this time I had to fight just to get a ride, never mind a seat,” she told AFP. On the bright side, her commute time was cut nearly in half to just 30 minutes because fewer cars on the road reduced the daily gridlock. But despite the fact it visibly thinned out congestion, the ban was unable to shift a layer of smog that hung stubbornly over the capital throughout the day.

The traffic measure coincides with a series of test events for next year’s Olympics in the host city, including road cycling, beach volleyball, canoeing, baseball and archery. Ignoring the haze, Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, classed the air quality as “good.” “Today is a good day in terms of pollution. You can go out and do sports or whatever you want,” he said. Transport authorities laid on 800 extra buses and 240 additional subway trains to cope with two million more trips that passengers were expected to make from 6:00 am to midnight on the first day of the ban that runs through Monday. Even so, crowds were thick and lines were long as commuters hailed cabs and waited for buses and trains. “I cannot believe it is so crowded. Two trains have just passed and I just could not squeeze myself on,” said businessman Wang Xindong, who normally drives to work but found himself stuck at an inner-city subway station.

Station security guard Li Ouyang said that trains were full an hour before the usual morning rush-hour. “The volume of passengers is several times more than normal and it started one hour earlier than usual,” he said. Beijing is one of the world’s most polluted cities and poor air quality, blamed partly on the city’s three million cars – a number growing by 1,200 a day – has long been a top concern for athletes and officials. The ban affects state-owned vehicles as well as the city’s 2.4 million private cars, which are allowed to run on alternate days based on odd and even licence plate numbers. afp

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