CHINA> Regional
Driving people mad
By Qiu Lin (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-30 07:55

Consumers like Zhang took advantage of China's relaxed car ownership rules, snapping up autos in one of the biggest car-buying bonanzas ever, clogging Beijing's streets and exacerbating the pollution. The city now has 3.5 million vehicles, including 1,200 new ones on the road every day.

Related readings:
 New traffic rules in Beijing
 Beijing imposes car ban to ease traffic jams
 Traffic eases on car ban's first day
 Post-Olympic traffic faces challenges in Beijing
In compensation, the restricted vehicles are exempt from one month of vehicle tax and road maintenance fees each year.

"I don't care how much tax they cut in compensation - it is causing me a lot of trouble," says Zhang. "Now I can't drive my car on Monday - do you know how terrible the traffic is on Monday in Beijing? It's a nightmare to take a bus."

Although Beijing built four new subway lines ahead of the Olympics to ease transport during the Games, a new line is yet to go near Zhang's home.

"I would take the subway if there was one nearby but there is no subway and the buses are just too crowded, too slow and too stinky for my baby," Zhang says.

Now she takes a taxi to get her son to kindergarten on Mondays, while her husband drives the other car to work. "I have to leave home at 6 am to avoid traffic," she says.

Like most people, Zhang was tolerant of the restrictions during the Olympics and Paralympics but she finds the new controls unbearable.

"I definitely support the ban on government vehicles - I even think 30 percent is not enough - but I strongly oppose the ban on private cars," Zhang says.

She does not think the restrictions will benefit the air quality much. "I can see factories spewing out black smoke from my house," she complains, "so if they are not shut down, how can the air quality be improved"?

Zhang also believes a policy that affects everyone should be open to public submissions before being implemented and she is not alone.

A survey of 6,200 people conducted by the People's Daily's website showed that more than 93 percent believed the new trial ban should first have been submitted to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress for discussion.

The website conducted another survey, in which nearly 400,000 Internet users participated; 67 percent agreed that "banning private cars from the road is unreasonable" and supported the ban on government cars; 28 percent said it would contribute to cleaner air and better traffic flows.

Early in the new traffic ban, public debate continues and some Internet users are even questioning the legitimacy of such a policy.

The government maintains the Law on Road Traffic Safety and the Beijing municipal government's Regulations to Implement Law on Prevention of Air Pollution give it the right to limit motor vehicles on the road to optimize traffic and air quality conditions.

Gan Peizhong, a law professor at Peking University, supports vehicle restrictions but thinks local government has sidestepped the legislative process with the new ban.

"There are serious flaws in the procedure," he says, claiming the public should have had the chance to express their concerns before it was implemented. Nor is he convinced this is the end of it. "We cannot predict what the government is going to do after the trial," he says.