The Olympic Games are over, but some of the measures adopted for the games remain in place

Even though the Olympic Games ended almost two months ago, two measures put in place for the games remain in force in Beijing. One is the mandatory screening of all bags, including handbags, at subway stations. This precaution clearly helped prevent a bombing attack on the subway; a few of my laowai friends, I might add, were certain that something like that was very likely to occur.

Thus this measure is a minor inconvenience I'm more than happy to put up with. Better to endure a slight delay in going through the entry gate/turnstile than to endure greater risk of a either a Madrid style bombing or the 1995 Sarin Gas attacks the Japanese cult group, Aum Shinrikyo, mounted against the Tokyo Subway. Some readers may know from my profile that one of my favorite novels is Haruki Murakami's NORWEGIAN WOOD. One of Murakami's other famous novels, HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD, was written in reaction to the Tokyo Subway Sarin gas attacks.

In addition to tightened subway security, driving restrictions, albeit not as draconian as the odd-even regulation, have been re-instituted in Beijing. Under the odd-even system, motorists with odd-numbered license plates drove on odd-numbered days, while ones with even numbered license plates drove on even numbered days. Those caught driving when they weren't supposed to be driving were heavily fined.

About a month ago motorists were told that they could not drive on certain weekdays, depending on the last two digits in their license plate numbers. Thus drivers whose license plate number ends with a “one” and “six” are not permitted to drive on Monday. The same goes for other digits for different weekdays. Basically, this means that people can't drive their one weekday every week. Motorists caught breaking this rule are being fined 100 RMB.

My current Chinese lady friend lives in Southwest Beijing and works near Chaoyang Park. She thus has to drive all the way across town on the Third Ring Road—during the rush hour, this highway is as jammed as Los Angeles’s San Diego. We often say here that during such times, the Third Ring Road, or 三环 (flat tone “san” and falling tone “huan”), is Beijing's biggest parking lot. Despite all of this and even though her commute by car lasts two hours one way, my lady friend still drives because going by bus and subway takes even longer, namely 2.5 hours one way.

Of course, the best way to solve this problem is to do what was done in London, namely allow people who want to drive into the central city to do, but force them to pay a congestion charge. Under this system, motorists retain the freedom to drive into the city center, but bear the full costs of this behavior. The proposal worked wonders in London: when motorists faced the prospect of being charged for externalities, like clogged traffic, they quit going into Central London by car for non-essential errands and the like.

However, the restrictions, while flawed, have made a noticeable impact in lowering congestion. I commute to work by using the bus—I'll put some bus stories in another post—and, on the way home at least, have been stuck in traffic far less than was the case before the driving restrictions were put into place (I typically get on the bus at 6:05 in the morning and arrive at work at 6:35, so congested traffic isn’t a problem commuting to work). And the air does seem to be a little better, with more blue sky days. Be thankful for small blessings!