Chapter 12 5. The traffic is out of order

Traffic congestion in Beijing is not a one-day or two-day problem, but a political problem.When urban planning was carried out in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing followed the overall plan of the city with a single center and expanded outwards because of trusting the words of the Soviet experts, the proletarian brothers, and desperately built major roads and ring road overpasses.International cities such as London have long known that dense road networks and one-way streets are effective measures to solve urban traffic congestion, but Beijing still insists on going its own way.Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no blockage.

Just like in the early days of reform and opening up, people liked to ask questions about "surname capital and surname society". As the capital, Beijing has been deeply marked by politics in every aspect of the city, whether it is in the sky or in the ground.So the Beijing subway is a political product.Its dehumanization in many ways is not difficult to understand. To say that Beijing's traffic is out of order means that if it fails to find the "people's livelihood" spectrum, no matter how wide the roads are or how many bridges are built, it will be just random bombs.

IBM Corporation of the United States conducted interviews with 8,192 drivers in 20 cities around the world, and found that the traffic jams in Beijing and Mexico City rank first in the world, and the global average traffic jam time is 1 hour; the total score of the traffic pain index set by IBM is 100 points, Beijing and Mexico City both scored 99 points. IBM conducted the study based on a survey of 10 issues, including commute time, traffic travel time, the pressure caused by the flow of vehicles, passenger anger and impact on work.Most respondents said that traffic has been deteriorating over the past three years. 65% of the respondents pointed out that they encountered traffic jams when driving to work every day, which made them feel nervous and angry, and their sleep time was reduced, and the time spent with their families was correspondingly reduced.29% believe that traffic jams affect work or classroom performance.

According to the survey of "China's New Urbanization Report 2010", the average time spent in Beijing is 52 minutes, ranking first in the country.Followed by Guangzhou 48 minutes, Shanghai 47 minutes, Shenzhen 46 minutes.Most of the top ten cities are developed cities, and it takes more than 40 minutes to get to work.Compared with first-tier cities, less developed cities spend less time going to work. The average time is about 24 minutes, which is lower than the average level of 50 cities, and even lower than the nearly 20 minutes of first-tier cities.However, this "championship" in the capital was not glorious.

China's heart is so "blocked" every day, no one can bear it.Then find the reason and find a way. Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission, said at the Science and Technology Expo on May 27, 2009: In the past few years, the increase in the proportion of private car travel in Beijing was twice that of public transportation. At the end of last year, the proportion of public transportation reached 30.2. %, the proportion of travel by private car reached 29.8%, approaching the proportion of public transport.This shows that Beijing's traffic structure has changed from "public, private and small" to "public" and "private".

Liu Xiaoming said: "The number of motor vehicles has maintained a growth rate of more than 10% every year in recent years. On the 26th of this month, the number of motor vehicles in Beijing reached 3 million, and it is still increasing at a rate of 1,060 per day. The transportation mode of Beijing citizens presents three major characteristics. First, the number of car trips is still higher than that of buses. Second, the agglomeration effect of the height of the central urban area is very obvious. 5 times the intensity. Third, the effect of private car use is declining. In 5 years, the number of people transported by one trip has dropped from 1.52 to 1.26.”

"The number of people transported by one trip has dropped from 1.52 to 1.26." This data needs to be digested a little, and then you can figure it out. It turns out that rich people bought new cars at home, and the number of private cars has skyrocketed. Before, maybe the husband had to drive his wife Going out, now my wife has bought a car herself, and this family has two, or even three, four, or five famous cars. Of course, the number of people that can sit in a car will be reduced from 2 to 1.The above data were obtained by averaging. The Beijing Municipal Government seems to have accepted the implication of this data, believing that the "culprit" of the traffic jams is too many private cars running on the road.

Therefore, with the help of the Olympic Games, Beijing implemented odd and even number restrictions on vehicles.After the National Day holiday in the same year, the "tail number restriction" was implemented again. On April 4, 2010, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the Traffic Management Bureau of the Public Security Bureau jointly held a press conference, announcing that the "restriction on the end of the working day" will continue for another two years until April 10, 2012. In fact, in 2008, when the idea of ​​restricting travel with odd and even numbers was first proposed in Beijing, the obedient Han Han posted a post on his blog titled "After Beijing's Long-Term Travel Restriction for Odd and Even Numbers". All kinds of things that may happen after that have been "obsessed" until 2018.If you are interested, you can find it and have a look, so I won’t repeat it here.However, a point of view is mentioned in the article: "Everyone found that after the implementation of odd and even numbers in Beijing, the total number of vehicles has more than doubled before the implementation, and the traffic is completely congested. Everyone gradually wants to understand that the original restriction has no effect on public companies and wealthy people. Yes, in the end it is the working class who suffer the most." This is nonsense.

The netizen "tenacious cat" had a similar opinion with Han Han, and he raised a big question: "Beijing motor vehicles are restricted to one day a week, who is laughing?" First of all, he affirmed the good original intention of the Beijing Municipal Government to implement this measure.However, he also pointed out that after the implementation of this policy, people from all walks of life will be affected in different ways: "First of all, the city's basic transportation system, such as the bus system, taxi system, subway, urban rail system, these road vehicles Not subject to any restrictions on travel restrictions”; “followed by those privileged vehicles with red letters or police lights, such as military vehicles, armed police vehicles, fire engines, emergency vehicles, road construction vehicles, embassy vehicles, etc.”, Among them, "Most of the vehicles are already like road tanks. Where others dare not violate the rules, where there are traffic police, where there are reverse lanes, where there are many electronic eyes and cameras, these places are the places where these vehicles love to go, and they often see them on the road. Seeing their violating lights, speeding, crossing the line, and retrograde heroism, they even openly violated the rules under the eyes of the police. Therefore, these vehicles, they are used to privileges, and they cannot be restricted by traffic restrictions”; then, “the government and the government agencies Can they be affected? If someone thinks so, it would be too naive. Now in Beijing, which unit does not have a few decent cars, and the limit is only one day a week. Wouldn’t changing a car completely solve the problem? "; "The last ones are ordinary people, who suffer from the long distance to work and the task of taking their children to and from school. They gritted their teeth and bought a car. They hoped that it could be used as a means of transportation, or to put some money on their faces. Recently, Suffering from rising gas prices, doubling of parking fees, road maintenance fees and insurance, etc., but the wages in our pockets have not improved much, and we are already anxious. We can only drive once every other day for the Olympics. , This is a credit to the country, we think it is worth it, and now there are restrictions on traffic, and they are going to run for a long time, isn’t it terrible? One day a week is restricted, if you are lucky, there are direct buses, but if you have a few Taking a car, running a long distance, and picking up and dropping off the children will be a big problem! One aspect is that it is difficult to control time, and it is not cost-effective economically, and safety is also a problem. Buy another car? No Money!"

In fact, this is a very simple truth, and you don't need "authoritative data" from relevant departments to understand the truth.Restricted, who is restricted? Some netizens directly said: "I don't intend to be a troublemaker, but I have the right to be dissatisfied." Ms. Fan is a working class in Beijing who was unfortunately "bullied" by this travel restriction policy.She said: "From Monday to Thursday, it's not a big problem if you don't drive any day. Only Friday, when my daughter learns the piano, I have to drive the piano to the teacher's house. But my car number is 0, so I can't drive on Friday. Move, our house is far away, so it's not easy to take a taxi. What can we do?"

"Procuratorial Daily" also published a comment under the title "Why is it too urgent to ask the public's opinion to restrict the travel?" It was released in the form of a circular after only one week, which is quite surprising—— "This is where people feel the scariest - since in Beijing, a single notice can stop hundreds of thousands of cars every day, there is nothing wrong with other places; since a single order can stop you for a week Driving for one day, if you want to stop driving for three or five days a week, it will not be too difficult. "Is there anyone who will ask: 'Which law stipulates that such a matter must be heard?' I really can't find it. But any policy formulated by the government and any decision made by the government must be reasonable in addition to being legal. Is there a law? The law expressly stipulates that a hearing must be held for this kind of matter. This is not the crux of the problem, and public opinion is not limited to the hearing. The relevant department issued a notice bypassing all democratic procedures, which makes people wonder: In a case involving data In the decision-making for the benefit of millions of people, does the government not think it is necessary to listen to the public opinion?" Having said so much, we still have to return to the problem of traffic congestion in Beijing. Although the traffic situation has improved slightly after the "limitation", until this moment, no one dares to say that the "limitation" has completely solved the traffic congestion in Beijing. question.This can only show that the stubborn disease is still not cured. Beijing's traffic has fallen into a vicious circle.It’s not that there are too many cars, nor are there too few roads, as the title of the Southern Weekly review suggests: Beijing lying on the wide roads. Some people will regard Beijing's Second Ring Road, Third Ring Road, and Fourth Ring Road as "the four city walls of Beijing", and regard the overpasses as "city gates". "If the roads are the blood vessels of the city, then the main roads are the main arteries, and the alleys are the capillaries. The current four city walls not only cut off all the 'capillaries' of the city, but even those secondary arterial and secondary roads It has become a 'dead end'!" The ring road in Beijing has become the only way for people to pass. No matter where you go, I am afraid that you will not be able to leave the city without taking the ring road. Ma Yuecheng wrote in his blog: "The traffic in Beijing is indeed evil. When you want to think of a place on the East Third Ring Road, you may have to detour through the East Fourth Ring Road, or even choose to detour through the North Fourth Ring Road, Come along the South Fourth Ring Road. If your destination is in the due west direction, you may have to move north or due south first. The traffic in Beijing is becoming more and more congested in this detour.” In order to solve the problem of traffic congestion, the Beijing municipal government has also made great efforts to pave the ring roads one by one and widen the roads exponentially.But does it work?Useless! "The fact may be exactly the opposite. When the road was narrow before, the traffic lights at the intersection basically changed every 30 seconds. Now that the road is wide, it becomes 59 seconds. Otherwise, pedestrians will not be able to pass. In addition, due to the addition of left-turn traffic lights, Another half-minute waiting time has been added. What used to take 30 seconds, now takes one and a half minutes. Do you know how many cars will be backlogged in one and a half minutes?" This is really "road bullying"! The strange status quo of Beijing's transportation is inseparable from the city's special political and historical status. In terms of road network planning, Beijing has long implemented a two-way traffic model of "wide and sparse" roads. The road red line planning formulated in the 1950s has been implemented until now. Motor vehicle roads are generally 700 to 800 meters apart.In contrast, cities in some western developed countries have adopted a development model of "narrow and dense" roads, such as Washington, where motor vehicle roads are generally 100 to 150 meters apart.Due to the dense road network, these western cities vigorously develop one-way traffic and pay attention to the construction of road network and road system. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jun conducted a detailed and in-depth investigation on this issue.He wrote: "From the perspective of traffic technology, improving the passing capacity of intersections is the key to solving congestion, because vehicles are stuck at intersections. The biggest problem with two-way traffic is the low passing capacity of intersections, because there are both straight lines and left turns, which interfere with each other. Serious, but this problem does not exist in one-way lanes. According to estimates, single-way lanes increase vehicle throughput by 50% to 70% compared with double-way lanes.” "After World War II, many western cities took aim at the 'magic weapon' of one-way lanes, which improved the problem of traffic jams. The New York Transit Authority began to implement one-way lanes in 1949, which created a 'miracle'; London relied on its denser road network , Vigorously develop one-way traffic, turn 2/3 of the roads into one-way lanes, and get twice the result with half the effort.” However, Beijing needs "big roads". In addition to Beijing's "image project" as the capital, and the war preparation idea of ​​"any road can be used as an airstrip during wartime, and helicopters can land freely" in the 1950s, a The important reason is that there are too many "compounds". In the early 1950s, the craze for "compounds" of institutions that emerged in Beijing was inseparable from the Soviets.In the west, residential quarters are generally built on the outskirts of the city, and the layout of the city is based on neighborhoods.The advantage of the neighborhood is that it occupies a small plot and can meet the requirements of dense road network.The planners of the Soviet Union believed that a community is better than a neighborhood because it has complete facilities and can make community life more convenient.As a result, the community was moved from the suburbs to the urban area by them. If the community occupies a large area, the road network cannot be encrypted, and it is difficult to implement convenient and economical one-way traffic. At this time, the "Road Red Line Plan" was put into action, which is also the least out-of-shape plan implemented in Beijing so far. "The so-called red line is the 'red' warning line that marks the distance between buildings on both sides of the road in the planning map. Any new housing construction must not go beyond the threshold. On the red line map, the road is wide and straight, and there are cultural relics buildings that have been drawn in. , there are more hutongs, courtyard houses, and historical blocks, all of which are planned to be demolished; Shichahai is also crossed by the red line, and a planned road is going to cross from east to west. The red line of the road and the cultural relics involved have become a life and death couple. Contradictions. In 1989, the gate of Dongyue Temple, a famous Yuan Dynasty Taoist temple in Beijing, was demolished during road construction because it was drawn within the red line; for the same reason, in 1998, the Yuedong New Hall was demolished.” Liang Sicheng sighed: Digging out my flesh and blood!However, Mao Zedong severely criticized Liang Sicheng: "You cry even when you pick up an archway, and cry when you dig a city gate. This is a political issue!" At that time, Zheng Zuwu, the head of the road group of the Urban Planning Commission, was ordered to make a red line plan. In 1995, Zheng Zuwu, who was more than seventy years old, reviewed the gains and losses of Beijing's urban construction to Wang Jun. He believed that the development of one-way lanes and the encryption of the road network were effective ways to solve urban traffic. The old man said: "Looking at the current situation, Beijing's traffic is too difficult. London has a population of 7 million, 2.8 million vehicles, and the road area ratio is 23%, which is the same as Beijing. The same figure is in Paris. There are so many people and cars in London, only a few interchanges, The elevated road is only 1 kilometer. And we have built more than 100 interchanges, but the traffic is even more congested. The growth of roads is proportional to the growth of vehicles, which is impossible in any country. London has a dense road network and our roads are wide. London relies on two , One is one-way lanes, 2/3 of the roads are one-way lanes; the other is traffic automation control. The downtown area of ​​Beijing is so tense, and Wangfujing needs to be rebuilt on a large scale, and Oriental Plaza will be built. What should I do? How can traffic be maintained?" In fact, what is related to politics is not limited to Beijing's road traffic. This place where the most critical people in China live is very sensitive, both on the ground and underground. At 9 am on July 1, 1965, the groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of the Beijing Subway was held under two large ginkgo trees on the west side of Yuquan Road in the west of Beijing.Premier Zhou Enlai said: "Beijing's construction of the subway is entirely for the preparation of war. If it is for transportation, it only needs to buy 200 buses, and it can be solved." According to a report by reporter Zhou Lina in Issue 41 of China News Weekly in 2007: "Pingguoyuan Station of the Beijing Subway is not the end of Line 1. To the west, there are two stations, No. 52 and No. 53, which are closed to the public. These two brightly lit and empty platforms are a bit like well-preserved abandoned relics. It hints at the mysterious life experience of the Beijing subway as a combat preparation project in the early days. 'This site is a non-business area, non-staff are not allowed to enter'.The appearance of such a sign at the entrance of the subway station has already shown that it is extraordinary. "Before 1970, the subway has been a strategic secret that is not open to the public. "At the end of 1970, Zhou Enlai issued an order to sell tickets internally and receive visitors. From January 15, 1971, the public paid a dime to experience the subway with the letter of introduction from the unit. At that time, no matter whether it was necessary to make a movie, the subway stations and carriages would definitely be Be part of the shot. Someone once said that Beijing's urban construction of the subway is to "get up early and catch up late". In 1965, from Shijingshan to Fuxingmen, the trees were removed, big pits were dug, and cement piles were driven. People knew that this was to repair the subway.In the following 30 years, Beijing has only built 53 kilometers of subways, which is less than 1/7 of the city's overall plan.Why?Because of lack of money.How to solve the source of funds?The Beijing Municipal Government has been reluctant to introduce "living water" for a long time.Because the subway is the underground artery of the city, if it is handed over to outsiders to take care of it, it may be another political issue for the capital. Public infrastructure is funded and constructed by the government. This sentence is absolutely true in theory, but life is only a hundred years. As a subway user, how can you stand the long wait? In Beijing's urban master plan, there are a total of A total length of 355 kilometers of underground railway is to be built. According to the most conservative estimate, the cost of the underground part of the subway is 500 to 600 million yuan per kilometer, and the cost of the elevated part of the ground is also 300 million yuan per kilometer, with an average of 400 million yuan per kilometer. The total investment required is 120 billion to 150 billion yuan.Even if the government spends 1 billion yuan every year to build subways, Beijingers may have to wait another 100 years to see a relatively complete subway network. So as early as 1997, it was pointed out that the Beijing Subway faced a shortage of funds on the surface, but actually encountered a capital bottleneck.In terms of the source of funds for the construction of the subway, we should open source and release water, and change a single channel into multiple channels.At that time, this was just a folk argument. Beijing, however, has been holding on to airs and refuses to let go. It was not until October 1999, at the China-Hong Kong Economic Fair, that the Beijing municipal government put Metro Line 13, Line 5, and the eastern section of Line 1 together on the investment promotion table.The city government said it could adopt "flexible policies in terms of financing and construction". By the end of 2008, the total length of the Beijing Subway was 200 kilometers, with 9 lines and a total of 147 operating stations, with a daily passenger volume of more than 4 million.However, Beijing's rail transit accounts for only 15% of bus trips, which is far lower than the 60% or more in several major foreign cities. According to the data of "China's New Urbanization Report 2010", urban rail transit has a history of more than 100 years in foreign countries, and most major cities in the world have relatively mature and complete rail transit systems.After years of development, the proportion of public transportation in daily travel in these cities has reached more than 60%, and the highest has reached more than 90%, and urban congestion has been alleviated.With a population of 10 million in Paris, rail transit undertakes 70% of the bus traffic, 86% in Tokyo, and 55% in Moscow and Hong Kong. This is a question worth exploring. Why is the utilization rate of the subway still so low as the subway is getting longer and longer? No expert or authoritative organization has done research on this.But we can collage the reasons for it through several facts—— At the beginning of June 2008, the AFC system of all Beijing subway lines was fully launched, which meant that paper tickets were withdrawn from the subway, and citizens had waited 30 years for this. At the beginning of February 2009, Beijing Subway started to "cancel manual ticket sales" and introduced self-service ticket vending machines, ending the long years of citizens queuing up to buy subway tickets. On January 4, 2010, the Public Transport Corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued the "Letter of Opinions on the Issuance of Letters and Newspapers in Rail Transit Stations and the Stopping the Sale of Other Newspapers and Periodicals" to the Beijing Metro Operation Company. The reason for the existence of a "Beijing Entertainment News" is that the newspaper is "the only subway newspaper in Beijing approved by the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department".In response to this matter, the public transport team of the Municipal Public Security Bureau said: This article was issued by the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee. Considering that the sale of newspapers in subway stations will cause crowding and danger, it is forbidden to sell other newspapers and periodicals in subway stations except Xinbao.For this reason, citizens have complained that "the Beijing subway is almost a 'vacuum', and you can't buy anything."In the end, this "subway ban on reporting" that "did not fully consider and respect public opinion" and "proceeded with suspicious procedures" was stopped, but that was after months of tossing. On March 15, 2010, a netizen named "Chang'an's Stupid", who is also a person with "impaired mobility", wrote on his blog after experiencing the "special facilities for the disabled" in the Beijing subway. Li wrote: "The subway is not for the common people, it is not people-oriented, it is for activities, it is for politics, such as the Olympics, and it is time-sensitive. If you miss it, or the sports are over, you deserve it." On July 2, 2010, the "Beijing News" issued an article stating: "Within this year, mobile phone calls on Metro Lines 1 and 2 are expected to be realized." Line 2 covers the whole line. ... In addition, there are endless complaints about the inconvenient transfers of the Beijing subway, the dim light inside the station, and the elevators being in disrepair all year round.However, the relevant departments can just "turn a deaf ear".The Beijing Subway was born in the name of politics and to prepare for war, but time has passed and the city's underground artery should have become a tool for the people long ago. It's just that Beijing's focus has been reluctant to lower its focus and implement it.This city has been aloof for too long.So, what role should the subway play in a city?Let us turn our attention to New York, USA. In 2004, the New York subway celebrated its 100th anniversary.The subway has become the most popular means of public transportation in the city, and is known as "the most efficient subway system in the world", including 500 stations on 26 lines, carrying 4.5 million people in the five districts of New York every day. "New York Times" staff writer Randy Kennedy wrote in: "New York's subway is far more than a simple means of transportation to and from get off work for this city. For 100 years, it has played restaurants, Libraries, dormitories, houses of worship, fairs, station wagons, maternity wards, and even deathbeds.” Randy said, “I have calculated that every New Yorker spends more than a year on average in their lives. On the subway. There is a marriage between the subway and the people of New York—they love each other, they hate each other, but they cannot separate."