CONGESTION - Shanghai

Question 1

How is Shanghai, on a global scale, responsible for its own congestion?

Answer 1

• It is an international trade centre, with a free trade zone introduced in September 2013.
• Many lorries come to make deliveries. This is linked to Shanghai being a financial centre.
• Shanghai is the commercial and financial centre of mainland China.
• Its population was 24 million in 2013, and it is experiencing population growth at a rate of 37.53%.

Question 2

How is Shanghai, on a domestic scale, responsible for its own congestion?

Answer 2

• Increased car ownership due to improved standards of living.
• More people are living on the rural-urban fringe.
• Roads are badly-designed.
• People ae brought into the cities by large roads or motorways, which link up with smaller, older roads in the city centre - creating a bottleneck.
• It has high-value shikumen buildings that are characteristically low (2-3 stories), and have lilong pedestrian lanes, and therefore there is less space for roads.
• From 1990-2000, length of its roads increased by 40%, but number of cars quadrupled to over 1 million.

Question 3

What are the effects on health of Congestion in Shanghai?

Answer 3

• PM 2.5 molecules are responsible for many respiratory diseases.
• Lung cancer is the biggest killer for men. In 2013, the incidence rate of cancer in Shanghai residents was 1.79 percent.
• Every day, about 100 people die from the disease and 149 new cases are diagnosed.
• Many cities in China such as Shanghai surpass WHO reccommendations of air pollution by 40 times.

Question 4

How does congestion cause traffic accidents?

Answer 4

• There were 265,000 road accidents in 2008 in Shanghai.
• This equates to 736 people involved in accidents.
• Surface roads are most dangerous, as they designed for mixed road users - including motor vehicles, non-motorized vehicles, and pedestrians.
• On the freeway, there is a 0.7% chance of a fatal accident.

Question 5

Basic stats on Shanghai:

Answer 5

• Most congested city in China as of 2014.
• Index: 2.16 for Shanghai, 2.1 for Hangzhou and 2.09 for Beijing.

Question 6

How does Congestion in Shanghai effect the Environment?

Answer 6

• Zhu Junbo, a political representative, argued that the pollution problem has become “more and more obvious” since 2012.
• This originates from fuel exhausts from vehicles.
• It is exacerbated by the fact that due to congestion, they vehicles move slowly, and stay for longer on roads (vicious cycle).
• The exhaust gases include carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas.

Question 7

How does congestion in Shanghai affect traffic?

Answer 7

• Average vehicle speed on main roads in rush hours is 15 to 16 kilometers per hour.
• Can lead to delays, and therefore a loss of working days as commuters arrive late.
• This is negative for the economy as production decreases.
• Commuters have less time to spend with their families.

Question 8

How are buildings changing to reduce congestion in shanghai?

Answer 8

• Many lilongs are being replaced with taller appartment buildings.
• Lilongs are being developed so that cars and scooters can be placed inside their lanes and off roads, clearing space for moving vehicles.

Question 9

How is the Shanghai Metro reducing congestion?

Answer 9

• Used daily by 1.8 million people.
• First line of metro opened 1993.
• Proposed in 2013 to increase 800 kilometers of track — up from the current 468 kilometers.
• A fast Metro line is planned to provide a new link between Shanghai’s two airports, Hongqiao and Pudong.
• This would lower congestion in two areas where a mass influx of vehicles would normally be expected.

Question 10

How is the railway reducing congestion in Shanghai?

Answer 10

• There are elevated light railways in Shanghai.
• Currently, there are 14 lines.

Question 11

How would congestion charge benefit Shanghai?

Answer 11

• Shanghai was considering a London-style congestion charge twice, botg in 2013 and years earlier.
• It proposes limiting the number of cars to 2.5 million.
• However, this is hard to implement due to Shanghai’s population and cultural differences e.g. “Compared with Western countries, we have fewer cars but our drivers use them more,” said Jiang Miankang, an official with Shanghai Construction and Communication Commission.
• Shanghai instead pursues an approach involving car rationing and improvement of public transport.

Question 12

How does Shanghai’s control of vehicles limit congestion?

Answer 12

• License plates are distributed by auction, with prices reaching up to £3000.
• Number of new car registrations is limited to 50,000 per year. Shanghai is the first Chinese city to do this.