Yes, the one really outstanding success of Beijing's Olympic preparations has been the dramatic reduction in traffic congestion (though not in murderous selfishness and incompetence) on the city's roads, and a corresponding - though perhaps only slight - reduction in pollution levels (I suspect dust from construction sites is the major contributor to our toxic air, or to the heavy particulates, anyway; then come factory emissions; vehicle exhaust fumes are a distant third).
The city instituted an odd-and-even licence plate regime at the end of July, attempting to cut in half the number of cars on the road. And it appears to have worked so well that there is now (at least, according to Xinhua) a vigorous debate as to whether the measure should be retained (I think it's supposed to be discontinued immediately after the Paralympics on 20th September).
Some doomsayers were predicting that the policy would result in a catastrophic rise in competition for cabs; but, as I foresaw, that did not prove to be the case at all. In fact, with the negligible numbers of foreign tourists here during the Olympics, I think hailing a cab has been even easier than usual over the past month.
I'd love to see this policy retained full-time, if it actually had a chance of maintaining the relatively low traffic volumes we've seen recently. Alas, I don't think it does have a chance. I think a lot of the reduction in traffic has been down to so many people - both Chinese and foreigners - having quit the city for most of the month of August. Even more important than that, most of the government-owned vehicles have been pulled out of service during this period (it was such a policy that ensured the minimal traffic and clean air we enjoyed during the big African Summit here a year or so ago); that accounts for around half of all the registered vehicles in Beijing - and, I would guess, considerably more than half of those driving in the city centre during the week.
What's more, I don't think there's been any very effective enforcement of the odd-even licence plate policy (traffic police are rare as hen's teeth in Beijing - and they are supremely lazy and infinitely bribable; and the fine for breaking the rule is, I think, only a paltry 100RMB, which isn't going to burn too much of a hole in a car driver's pocket). At present, drivers have been complying voluntarily to support the city's efforts to give a good account of itself during the Olympics. That goodwill and self-restraint would, I'm sure, immediately evaporate if the restriction were to be retained permanently.
So, let us enjoy these last few days of drivable streets. The gridlock on Jianwai and the 3rd Ringroad will be back all too soon.
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