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Beijingers waste more time in traffic due to soaring car population

By Cui Xiaohuo and Todd Balazovic (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-25 07:50

Beijingers waste seven more minutes on clogged roads each day compared with two years ago, a report said.

The time increase is directly linked to the city's soaring car population, which increased by one million during the same period, the biennial study on residents' mobility from Beijing-based Horizon Research said.

Beijing residents now spend an average of 62.3 minutes on daily commutes made during rush hour, an increase of 7.3 minutes from 2007, according to the study.

With no major traffic jams, residents still spent 40.1 minutes traveling to and from work everyday, said the survey, which will be officially released in January.

The study emphasizes the impact new cars on Beijing's roads is having on the daily lives of residents in Beijing, Horizon research director Zhang Hui said yesterday.

"The noteworthy result this year is more residents are concerned with the growing number of vehicles on the streets," Zhang said.

"A large group of them have urged authorities to restrict the car population."

The number of cars in Beijing hit a benchmark of four million last Friday, completing a record breaking leap of one million cars in less than three years. Transport policy experts have warned the explosion of car ownership is sacrificing both air quality and road efficiency in Beijing.

The Economist magazine reported last week that Chinese commuters now spend an average of 42 minutes going to work each day, the longest commute time for workers in the world.

More than 65 percent of the 1,510 respondents surveyed in seven major Chinese cities blame the overpopulation of vehicles, the Horizon study said. One third of respondents think measures should be taken to limit the growth of private car ownership.

Another 14 percent suggested controlling the increasing number of government vehicles.

Residents in car-filled cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, picked Beijing's traffic as the nation's worst in terms of time and money consumed, the study said.

Based on a calculation of Beijing residents' average monthly incomes, Horizon researchers determined traffic jams cost each Beijinger 335.6 yuan, the highest amount among the cities surveyed.