标题: Wuhan Traffic Jam [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 1-4-2014 08:52 标题: Wuhan Traffic Jam Colum Murphy, China's Urban Nightmare: Gridlock; Worse than in London or New York, traffic in Wuhan points to a wrinkle in Beijing's growth strategy. Wall Street Journal, Jan 3, 2014.
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303330204579247731532836694
Quote:
"In Wuhan, the government is in the midst of a subway-building frenzy—constructing nine subway lines at the same time. The city is also busy building elevated highways and ring roads. Yet congestion persists. * * * The Yangtze and Han rivers divide Wuhan into three main districts connected by a handful of bridges and a tunnel. Wuhan currently has only two metro lines. * * * 'Congestion is everywhere. Subways and elevated highways are being built along the vital streets, narrowing the four-lane roads into two-lane ones, and riders of electric bikes always intrude into the motorways,' said Li Fuyuan, a 33-year-old Wuhan taxi driver.
"To try to fix the problem, about two years ago Wuhan became the first Chinese city to charge electronic tolls to reach its bustling downtown area, joining more-global cities such as London and Singapore. * * * To relieve its clogged thoroughfares, Wuhan introduced its electronic toll-collecting system in 2011. It uses a transponder people carry in their cars, enabling their accounts to be automatically charged. The system charges at least eight yuan (about $1.30) for every use of the bridges and the tunnel. Alternatively, they can buy an annual card for unlimited usage. Bus and taxi drivers are charged 500 yuan a year, while private individual drivers pay 2,400 yuan. * * * But that move is also unpopular with some drivers who say the tolls are expensive and ineffective [to reduce downtown traffic volume] * * * Experts say for toll systems to be effective, commuters need to have viable alternatives such as a robust public-transportation system, something that Wuhan is still in the process of building.
"According to the Wuhan government, more than 1.45 million motor vehicles were registered in the city as of July. In the past five years, the city has seen a more than 20% annual increase in automobile registrations. Meanwhile, the length of roads increased only slightly, to about 8,000 miles at the end of 2011 compared with about 7,830 miles at the end of 2010.
Note: The 2011 study by UBS is most likely proprietary, preparing for clients. In any event, the study is not available free online, so I do not know the data for Taipei, for instance.