I recently put on my fb page something about the major traffic jam that's reported here in China just south of Beijing. Some people have asked me how this sort of thing could happen. Well, I think that is a very good question. First of all, China's economy is booming. Construction is going on everywhere in Beijing and Shanghi as well as many other cities around the country. Factories and other types of industry are either starting up or growing and expanding. This means that employees are needed both to build the new facilities and also to man them when they open. Many of the people come from the countryside to the city to find work and a new life for themselves and their family. (much like the US during the Industrial Revolution.)
In order to keep the economy rolling the Government has been working to build a better infrastructure (ie roads, highways, bridges, etc...) to provide a better way for the people to get to their new jobs and to give businesses better means of receiving raw materials and shipping goods to market.
Sounds simple right? Well not so much.
You see, in the US if their is going to be any road construction done on any highway or road, usually their is a survey done to measure the amount of traffic that flows through that area at a given time. This way, the Contractor and local authorities can come up with a plan to help divert traffic if needed. This usually works very well because in the US traffic flow is generally the same from year to year. In China, however, it is a little different.
Remember all those people moving in from the country to the city for a better way of life. Well, they move to the city on a bicycle. (or something similar.) After they get to the city and start their new jobs, they realize that they now can afford things that they might not have been able to before. Some may buy a scooter to get around the city, others buy a car. In China this past month almost 1 million cars were sold. Add this to the 1 millioin cars sold during each of the first 2 or 3 months of the year and the over 5 hundred thousand vehicles sold in each of the remainder months and maybe you can begin to see the problem. But if you can't, allow me to enlighten you.
Much of the population in China are "first timers." They are first time internet surfers, computer users, cell phone users, mp3 player users, CD player users, washing machine users, indoor plumbing users and, yes, DRIVERS. So most of the car buyers this year are first time drivers/buyers. Granted, not all the buyers are first timers, but it's safe to say that most of them are.
Therefore, that means that there are most likely close to 1 million more cars on the road today in China than there were last month. And Most likely close to 7 million more cars on the road today than at the beginning of the year. Couple this with the fact that much of the construction is happening around the major cities in China and most of the car buying is happening in the major cities in China. Well, now do you get the picture?
Now add to this the fact that these are NEW drivers and also, the road ways here are not currently designed to handle this amount of traffic (hence the construction) and well now you should understand the problem.
On the lighter side of this issue you can figure that for every available parking space in China, there are at least three drivers trying to use it. About a month and a half ago I observed a funny scene. I was riding my bike by the Post Office near Wudaoko (Subdistrict of Haidien) where Melody and I work, when I saw three vehicles jockeying for the right position to grab this one parking space and they seemed to be at a stand still. If one moved the other two would counter move. This went on for quite some time, however, I'm not sure how long because I had to get to work. (I watched for about 4or5 minutes.) The funny thing is the space was not vacant. There was still a car parked in it!! Add to this the fact that this was all happening in the middle of the designated BIKE LANE and ..... Well that's Beijing for ya!
Well , I hope I have educated, and enlightened you.
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