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In addition to the traffic changes, businesses will begin staggering their hours, with large department stores opening at 10 a.m. and other offices beginning work between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102874.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/506/Congestion.jpgMaureen Fan - Washington Post – Oct. 3, 2008

Thanks Bruce for the find -- Ed.

BEIJING, Oct. 1 -- The government began taking 30 percent of its cars in the capital off the roads Wednesday in an attempt to make permanent some of the traffic restrictions imposed during the Olympic Games, officials and media reports said.

Beginning Oct. 11, Chinese motorists will also stop driving one workday a week, based on the final number on their license plates. The new rules should take 800,000 vehicles off the roads each day, according to reports quoting Wang Zhaorong of Beijing's Municipal Traffic Committee. There are 3.5 million cars in Beijing, and more than 1,000 vehicles are added each day, according to government statistics.

The attempt to manage traffic is one of the first concrete signs of possible lasting change as a result of the Olympics. The new restrictions come as the capital's traffic has once again surged and as smoggy skies have returned following the lifting of rules imposed from July 20 to Sept. 20 for the Olympics and the Paralympic Games. In an all-out effort to try to clear the air for millions of athletes and visitors, Beijing ordered more than a million cars off the roads, shut down polluting factories and halted heavy truck traffic… http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102874.html

I wish China was still stuck with bikes! All those people and cars, and I wonder about the emissions of a Chinese spec car!

Ha! Can you imagine if every American had to find their way to work once a week without driving solo? ;)

(Don't get your panties in a bunch, conservatives. I'm not actually suggesting that we do it. Just getting enjoying the mental picture of what would ensue).

I wish China was still stuck with bikes! All those people and cars, and I wonder about the emissions of a Chinese spec car!

You think the cars are bad? The cars are nothing. I've been there three times and the problem is the two-stroke jalopies that pass as motorcycles (sometimes with sidecars) over there.

Newer passenger vehicles in China have cat converters, closed loop computer control and all that stuff. I forgot which Euro bin they comply with.

Older vehicles and trucks in general are not restricted or inspected in any meaningful way. They are substantial pollutant sources, and I see no strong motivation to reign them in.

DAS

Yeah, I fear China is so unregulated concerning emission that they are such major polluter and are a large contributor to global warming. They might be negating the US's clean emissions efforts.

All the images I see (on national TV) of Beijing show only new vehicles on the road. However here in faraway Kunming there are many old (and frankly high-polluiting) vehicles.

On the pollution side, both older vehicles and trucks are the major mobile sources. New factories are being built with genuine attempts for emissions reductions, but there are many old (dirty) ones as well. Also wood and charcoal fires are to be found just about anywhere.

On the CO2 side, there is no doubt that China is massive and increasing, mostly because the electricity mix is 50% coal nationally. Even if they step up the pace of solar and wind generation, China CO2 is going to increase in the near future. Perhaps for decades until the easy local coal gets tapped.

On the other hand, the largest reforestation efforts anywhere are happening in this country. Part of my job here is to make those efforts as effective as possible.

It would be great to find a way to transition 1.3 billion peeps into a modern economic society w/o so much "junk", but this it not an easy task. Especially if the developed economies falter and buy much less Chinese exports?

Thomas Friedman has a new book called 'the world is flat' which is an interesting analysis of all this.

DAS

You think the cars are bad? The cars are nothing. I've been there three times and the problem is the two-stroke jalopies that pass as motorcycles (sometimes with sidecars) over there.

Those things are toxic and with them not regulating those, makes you think they're only concerned about congestion and not pollution.