Half the private cars went off the roads starting on Sunday, as planned. So why did my cab plunge straight into a bad traffic jam as soon as it tried to get onto the Second Ring Road this morning?
Because what also happened on Sunday was that the left lane of the Second Ring became an Olympics-only lane, closed to regular vehicles. The algebra is a little mystifying without plugging in the full numerical proportions of taxis and buses and government vehicles in the traffic stream, but empirically speaking, half as many cars driving in two-thirds as many lanes is much worse than the usual traffic.
As we hit another jam on the Fourth Ring, which has also lost a lane to official Olympic vehicles, I told the driver (in a fleeting moment of Mandarin competence), "The Olympic things are only convenient to the Olympics. For everyone else, they're annoying." The driver clapped a hand over his mouth, and held it there theatrically. Then he put it back on the steering wheel. "Understand?" he said.
Understood! The Olympics is good for everyone. If you're here in Beijing enjoying it, the trick is to remember that the Third Ring has no Olympics lanes. Take the Third Ring whenever possible, rather than the Second or Fourth.
