Residents Unhappy with Beijing's Anti-congestion Tactics

An on-line survey by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport found that contrary to the commission's earlier claims of success, the majority of local residents think measures taken in the first half of the year to ease traffic congestion in the capital city had little, if any, effect. Of the 22,386 people who participated in the poll over two weeks, 17,182, or 76.75 percent of respondents, saw no improvement in traffic conditions. Only 64 couldn't provide a definite answer. Six options were offered for people to rank with respect to their effectiveness as congestion-reducing measures. The highest number of votes went to the 3-5-10 Program (walk any distance below three kilometers, ride a bike to destinations within five kilometers and take a bus or subway for a range of ten kilometers). The least favored choice turned out to be car license plate rationing and parking fee hikes. The lottery system launched this year for granting license plates got only 7.14 percent approval.