Daily Lessons from Life 07 October 2011 - Car-free campaign falls flat in China

"Friday, Oct 07, 2011 China Daily/Asia News Network - Car-free campaign falls flat in China

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - Efforts by major Chinese cities to join the global drive of World Car Free Day on Thursday failed to impress motorists.

Many cities set up car-free zones and encouraged residents to walk, ride bicycles and use public transport.

However, traffic congestion in Beijing and Shanghai indicated the authorities' promotional effort was far from effective.

"Unless we set up a no-car zone in a busier area, we cannot get the message across to motorists," said Huang Shaoyi, founder of environmental NGO Green 2012.

Huang believed stronger media support is needed to promote the notion of a special car-free day. Experts also believe it is not enough to solely rely on the government's efforts to raise public awareness.

"I still remember World Car Free Day in Munich five years ago," said Duan Liren, a transport expert from Xi'an-based Chang'an University. "Everybody was overwhelmingly excited and it was like liberation day for bicycles.

"When it comes to the idea of a car-free day, the media's promotional power is much more effective than any government department's."

World Car Free Day is an attempt to raise residents' "awareness of energy saving and environmental protection" as cities nationwide are plagued by traffic congestion and pollution caused by the huge number of vehicles on the roads."

Indeed, newly acquired habit, no matter how bad it is and even when the proponents know about how bad it can be, it is hard to break!

Lessons for me are:

1. stringent control of the number of cars are necessary until the authorities get the balance between number of cars and the road infrastructure right!;

2. convenience is the easiest excuse to give as to why one must drive! The key challenge become: how to make it convenient for people with cars travel in a transportaion mode that is more efficient and effective? Sub-way trains and distribution of population with work/recreational and living space optimized?;

3. to get the car owners to be excited about 'car free day' is not about rules and regualtion in the long term though short term, through heavy fine and harsh penalties, the authorities definitely can get the cars off the roads. Like the news report on how the people of Germany greeted their 'car free day', it is the awareness of the needs to use the cars less and actually stop driving for a day that will start the change process. Hopefully, cars are no longer necessary in the urban cities of the future due to better planning of where people live, work and play!

Car free! For a day!! Can? :-)