Commuters in the capital spent 20 minutes less in traffic jams last month as a direct result of the parking charge hike, say transport authorities.

After fees were raised citywide on April 1, the daily average congestion time inside the Fifth Ring Road fell to 45 minutes, 20 minutes less than the average for March and one hours and 45 minutes less than in April 2010, according to figures from the Beijing Transport Research Center.

"April is usually the month when traffic flow starts to increase, but this year it decreased," said center director Guo Jifu, who added that of the 35 roads included in the monitoring system, 29 saw a drop in traffic.

The average congestion index inside the Fifth Ring Road during rush hours in April was 4.4, which is regarded as "light", while inside the Third Ring Road it was 6.4, or "medium", he said.

Statistics supplied by Guo show that the daily number of cars parked downtown in ground-level areas has fallen 19 percent since April 1, while underground lots have seen a 12-percent drop in business during rush hours.

There has been a marked change, said Dou Keying, METRO's talkative taxi driver, who is a veteran of Beijing's streets. "Many passengers heading for business districts like the CBD often complain to me that taking a taxi is now far cheaper than driving their car."

A survey of 2,400 drivers by the research center found 29 percent now commute on public transport, with the vast majority taking buses and subways. In April alone, passengers made 21.4 million journeys on Beijing's mass transit network, a 3.3-percent increase on the same period last year.

Despite the figures, Liu Shubin, who runs an education agency in the CBD, said he has seen no improvement in his daily commute from his home beyond the South Fourth Ring Road.

"The congestion time is still just like it was before, but I still prefer driving to work," he told METRO. "Subways and buses are too crowded every day."

China Daily

(China Daily 05/12/2011 page)