Does Beijing Have Too Many Cars?

The skies of Beijing have cleared somewhat after draconian measures have taken effect to curb pollution, which include closing factories and taking roughly half the vehicles off the road. I thought this observation from the Post’s coverage today was interesting:

But a few motorists said they hoped the changes would not be temporary.

“Ten years ago, the government promoted the dream of owning a car in order to develop the car industry,” said Zhang Dalin, 40, a sales manager who usually drives to work but now takes a bus and the subway. “Now, traffic and pollution are so bad, they have to do something. But ordinary people shouldn’t pay the price for the government’s wrong decisions.”

The options for government to “do something” presumably include transit improvements (which are happening) and measures to curb auto use: higher taxes and fees, congestion pricing, or inflexible rules like the even-odd license plate number restrictions used today.

With Beijing’s 2007 population of 17,430,000, assuming an average household size of 3, and taking the Post’s figure of 3.3 million cars, that translates into roughly 0.57 cars per household, or 43% with no vehicles. For comparison, that means Beijing has more cars per household than New York City and Newark but less than any other big U.S. city.

Biking Friday

Today for the first time in my adult life, I biked to work. My 2 mile commute from Shaw to Georgetown makes for an ideal bike commute distance. However, I usually take the G2 bus across P Street which usually takes 30 to 45 minutes since I get off at P and 30th Street in Georgetown and walk several blocks south. Today, I made the trip in just 15 minutes, meaning my average speed was around 8 miles an hour. My route took me by the ghost bike above, a memorial to Alice Swanson.

I’m not the only one with biking on my mind. Richard Layman posted this morning a roundup of various biking news. As for the much-discussed D.C. bike sharing program, although I posted about it in April and the Post reported bikes would hit city streets in May, WashCycle reports we will have to wait until sometime in August.

An aspiring planner I met with yesterday asked me whether there’s a massive effort afoot to make every American city more bikable. While I can’t say it’s “massive,” it does seem like I hear about biking at every turn. After Alice Swanson’s tragic death, I was invited to a grassroots meeting to talk about ways to make DC more bike friendly. The bike lane network continues to expand here, and I noted with satisfaction that one graces the street in front of my new apartment in Cambridge (on the right, seen complete with bikers!).

Meanwhile, I’m noticing more and more bikers on D.C. streets. While I may just be more attuned to them, it’s reasonable to assume increased gas prices, more bike lanes, and crowded public transit may be causing a noticeable mode shift towards bikes. From a planning point of view, we have much work to do, both in the way of transforming our cities to be more accommodating to the bike and understanding the dynamics of biking better. Transportation planners regularly record automobile traffic volumes on city streets using automated devices, often reporting the results on maps. I’ve never heard of something similar for biking, but it seems it’s only a matter of time before bike lanes feature devices quietly counting their users, allowing planners to fine-tune the network with every bit the care we spend on automobiles.

Top photo by Rudi Riet

Jaywalking … to Jail?

About a month ago I was walking around the city on a Saturday with my girlfriend Libby. We were walking east on P Street and approached the intersection with 22nd. Traffic was light, and the street is one way. We stopped, and looked to the right — no cars were coming. I looked to the left, only several seconds remained on the other timed crosswalk. We began to cross. A hitherto unnoticed police officer previously parked in the gas station reacted with impressive speed. He flipped on his siren and roared onto the street. We backed up several steps back to the curb. He rolled up, window down.

I can’t remember what followed verbatim, but the gist was this: the officer said we better “watch out” or we’ll “end up in jail.” I said, thank you and we continued on our way. Needless to say I regret not risking the ticket to point out jaywalking was a civil infraction, punishable usually by a ticket and fine. If it’s possible to end up in jail for jaywalking, that would be news to me. In fact, the offense is not even in the city code, only the city’s regulations, Title 18 of which specifies the following fines:

2603 PEDESTRIAN INFRACTIONS
2603.1 The following civil infractions and their respective fines set forth in this section refer to pedestrians:

INFRACTION (DCMR Citation) - FINE
“DON’T WALK” or “WAIT” Signal Walking against (§ 2302.3) Intersection - $ 20.00
Crossing diagonally (no signal) (§ 2303.3) - 20.00
Crossing between (§ 2304.1) - 20.00
Lawful order or direction of Police Officer [Repealed] D.C. Law 11-157, 43 DCR 3699, 3700
(July 19, 1996)
Parading without a permit (§ 2218) - 50.00
Path of a vehicle
Walk suddenly into (§ 2303.2) - 10.00
Red light, crossing against (§ 2301.4) - 20.00
Right-of-way
Fail to yield to an emergency vehicle (§2305.6) - 10.00

Roadway
Cross at other than right angle (§ 2304.3) - 10.00
Cross where prohibited (§ 2304) - 10.00
Obstructing traffic in - 20.00
Walking in (sidewalk provided) (§ 2305.2) - 10.00
Walking on wrong side (no sidewalk) (§ 2305.3) - 10.00
Soliciting rides while standing in roadway (§2305.4) - 10.00

The practice of ticketing pedestrians in Washington ruffled feathers during a previous crackdown in 2005, and in that same year the police issued a $5 ticket to a 73-year-old urban design expert who suffered serious injuries after being hit by a car. More recently, Nicholas Stephanopoulos argued his way out of a jaywalking ticket by arguing the infraction was by only seconds, and also by noting the D.C. ordinance speaks of a “WALK,” “DON’T WALK,” and “WAIT,” signs, instead of the icons displayed on the city’s new crosswalks.

As we walked home that day, we observed jaywalking at practically every intersection we crossed. Perhaps it’s time to amend city law, to provide pedestrians the right-of-way in marked intersections if no traffic is oncoming.

Moving to Boston

I thought I would announce here I will be moving to Boston in September, as Saturday I signed a lease on a Cambridge apartment. My girlfriend Libby will be starting Harvard Law School and I am looking for planning work. Any assistance or advice regarding either endeavor is welcome.