Tuesday, August 24, 2010

10-day Traffic Jam, Part 3

Holy crap, it looks like it is a 910-day continuous traffic jam.

That's lame. Even if there's roadwork, they can stop while letting cars through (other pictures show that it's a two lane-each way road). Again, I've witnessed road construction in China; they probably ripped up the entire road without considering traffic implications. You'd figure they can start detouring new traffic away and start clearing the congestion after 10 days.

==========

Page 2 of the Chinese article:
Wang, driving from Hohhot to Tianjin in a coal truck, had been on the Huai'an section for three days and two nights.

"We are advised to take detours, but I would rather stay here since I will travel more distance and increase my costs," Wang said.

"The number of roads from northwest China to Beijing are limited," he complained, asking "Why should I pay the toll fee?"

I guess it's cultural or something... but I'm Chinese and I don't get it. Sure you pay a bit more in fuel and toll fees but you're not sitting on your ass for 10+ days. Are they paid by the hour? Is his time not worth anything? We're taught in the West that time = money, so you need to maximize productivity. Perhaps it's different in China.

No comments: