China fact of the day

by on February 22, 2006 at 7:17 am in Data Source | Permalink

That the [Shanghai pedestrian traffic] guards have no powers of arrest, or even the ability to issue tickets, allows many pedestrians to feel free to ignore them. What is worse, they are frequent targets of aggression from crowds of sneering and cursing pedestrians. According to the city government, they are physically assaulted at a rate of about 20 times a month. [emphasis added]

Here is the full and fascinating story of the traffic mess we call Shanghai.  Any predictions on when the city turns into a mass of frozen gridlock?  Or will they develop the technical infrastructure to institute road pricing, as Singapore has done?

asiequana February 22, 2006 at 8:10 am

I didn’t find traffic as bad as indicated here. It certainly wasn’t as bad as Bangkok. But I think if any place can adjust to the growth in traffic it will be Shanghai. If the government wants to tear down a section of town to build a highway there is not much to stop it. Plus through several listed tollroad operators there is the capital to do it.

Chris February 22, 2006 at 10:02 am

I do not hope they follow the American style and do little or nothing. Congestion pricing or ‘value-pricing’ would be a good approach.

levan September 6, 2006 at 3:21 am
greg.org January 8, 2007 at 9:51 am

I’ve got nothing to add on the cialis front, but I was living in NYC at the time they switched from Brownies to Traffic Cops. I distinctly remember the main reason cited at the time was to reduce assaults on Brownies. It wasn’t unforeseen at all.

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: