Professional cyclists, amateur riders and city residents during a bike ride from the Citizens’Center to Huaqiang Square in Futian District. The activity was jointly organized by Shenzhen Development Bank and the city’s bicycle industry association.Cen Zhili
THE call to refrain from driving on World Car-Free Day yesterday seemed to have little impact on motorists, with the city’s roads busy as usual.
Monitoring results released by the city’s traffic police authority showed the situation on the city’s trunk roads remained unchanged except for some road sections that had been designated as restricted areas.
Police imposed a ban yesterday forbidding private cars from entering the city’s six busiest areas including Dongmen and Huaqiangbei between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The monitoring showed the number of vehicles entering the six roads, including Huaqiang Road North and Dongmen Road Central, had been reduced by 60-65 percent compared with ordinary days during rush hour. But the situation on other roads remained unchanged, traffic police said in a news release yesterday.
In a move to increase public awareness about energy saving and environmental protection, Shenzhen transport authorities had called for residents yesterday to take buses and Metro trains, ride bicycles or walk instead of driving.
The public response failed to live up to authorities’ expectations.
‘The number of cars parking at the Citizens’ Center, the city government office building, was the same as usual and the 500-space parking lot was occupied almost to its full capacity,” a security guard at the parking lot told the Shenzhen Daily.
Zhang Yongping, head of the Public Transport Department of the city’s transport commission, said buses and Metro trains are the most environmentally friendly vehicles. “Their per capita energy consumption for 100 kilometers is just 8.4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of that of a private car.
“Gas emissions from vehicles have become a major source of pollution, accounting for 70 percent of air pollution in Shenzhen, and the situation could be improved through expanding bus services in the city’s public transport network,” Zhang said.
The city now has at least 1.28 million vehicles on its roads. The number is increasing by an annual rate of 20 percent.
Li Cheng, an executive of a property development company in Futian District, said he was used to cycling to work. He drove cars only during holiday trips and weekends.
“When I decided to cycle to work, I wanted to do my bit for the environment. But I found it was not easy because the city didn’t have many bicycle lanes and there were many perils on the roads because motorists never gave ways to cyclists,” Li said.
“Car-Free Day is just one day, it is a symbol. If more people cycled to work, the situation could be changed,” Li said.
But some residents said Car-Free Day was just a fantasy that couldn’t be realized because it could not solve problems such as traffic congestion and pollution.
“The traffic bans can only push drivers to use other roads and Car-Free Day can only make over-packed buses more crowded during rush hour,” Xu Wenjie, an employee of Ping An Trust Investment Co., said.
This was the fourth time the city had attempted to have a Car-Free Day since it was introduced in 2006.
Han Ximin