The Beijing Municipal government is conducting a 4-day traffic experiment within Beijing city limits, limiting cars that can drive within the city according to whether drivers have an even or odd number on their license plate. The results are not in yet, but I can say that since August 8th, one year out from the Olympics, the weather has been excellent and visibility better than ever, with only one really smoggy day. If this can be repeated next year, we should be in good shape.
Of course, with an estimated 1,000 cars added to the city streets each day in the capital city, other measures are also likely to be needed. However, preliminary results of the experiment seem to be very positive. Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing municipal environmental protection bureau, said his team of experts is keeping close watch on the data collected by its 32 monitoring stations and that the impact was “obvious”, citing the achievement of a Grade II record on the first day of the test, Grade I and II being deemed suitable for the hosting of international events.
I’m all for this and even tougher restrictions, but, then again, I don’t drive a car in Beijing.
