Beijing’s bold plan to restrict car use to clear its notoriously polluted skies in time for the Olympics moved into high gear yesterday as the work week began.
Normally snarled traffic flowed smoothly in most areas, although skies were hazy, a sign that it could be several days before the impact of the measures — which also include constructions cutbacks and factory closures — is noticeable.
Under the two-month operation that started on Sunday, half of the capital’s 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days depending on whether their license plates end in an odd or even number.
PHOTO: AP
Sun Weide (孫維德), spokesman for Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee, said the plan should reduce vehicle emissions — a major cause of the city’s stifling pollution — by about 63 percent. He did not give further details.
Sun said that experts from the city’s environment protection bureau would monitor changes in the level of air pollution.
Already, “it can be easily felt that traffic is less heavy now and the number of vehicles on the road is clearly smaller,” Sun said. “We predict that we could achieve our goal.”
Foreign experts say the plan could still go wrong because unpredictable winds might blow pollution from other provinces into Beijing, or a lack of wind — common in August — could enable local pollution to build up.
Yesterday, traffic moved at a steady pace along main thoroughfares and highways.
“Before we would be at a dead standstill,’’ a taxi driver who would give only his surname, Zhang, said. “Now it’s better.”
Drivers with even-numbered plates were forced to take public transportation, where crowds remained surprisingly manageable.
“It seems that the subway isn’t as busy as I expected. There are fans and air conditioning, so you don’t feel very hot,” said Chen Songde, who normally drives to work in Beijing.
In addition to the traffic plan, chemical plants, power stations and foundries had to cut emissions by 30 percent beginning on Sunday.
Dusty, noisy construction in the capital had to stop entirely.
Those caught driving on days they shouldn’t would be fined 100 yuan (US$14), a pricey penalty even for the capital.
On many days, Beijing’s skyline can barely be seen because of a thick, gray-brown haze that hangs over the city.
Already, many competitors in the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Olympics are choosing to train outside of Beijing, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has said outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if air quality is poor.
The world’s greatest distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has bowed out of the marathon event because the city’s pollution irritates his asthma.
Some 300,000 heavily polluting vehicles — aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night — were banned starting July 1.
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