Cottage industries sprouting from China's nine-day traffic jam
Perhaps you’ve read already about China’s absurd nine-day, 100 km traffic jam – a monstrosity of infrastructural ineptitude that’s culminated in many Canadian papers running headlines like, “And you thought (Notoriously Bottlenecked Local Highway) was bad!”
Still, international mockery or not, this traffic situation near Beijing is unbelievably bad. Today marked the ninth day that thousands of vehicles bound for China’s capital have, well, hardly moved an inch.
What’s causing the jam – massive construction mixed with fender benders, broken-down cars and merging vehicles – isn’t so much newsworthy as what’s come of it.
Enterprising locals have begun to profit over the thousands of idled drivers, it appears, sprouting little cottage industries out of the standstill, no-end-in-sight traffic.
Indeed, one man’s misery is becoming another man’s profit in China, as residents along the congested 100 km traffic route have begun exploiting drivers by selling items such as instant noodles for jacked-up rates.
“(The noodles) are sold at four times the original price while I wait in the congestion,” one driver complained to China’s Global Times.
And on that note, the economics of the situation don’t exactly allow for browbeaten drivers to get off the stagnated highway, either.
Somehow, local truckers have calculated that it’s of less cost to stay on the bottlenecked road than to take an alternate route.
“We are advised to take detours, but I would rather stay here since I will travel more distance and increase my costs,” said the same driver, noting the pricey tolls along the suggested detour routes.
In any case, news today came that the unprecedented traffic jam could last as long as a full month, which would be ludicrous even by Chinese highway standards.
Chances are, certainly by the results of this CBC.ca poll, Canadians haven't witnessed anything like that on their commute home from work.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Quarmby | Aug 24, 2021 6:38:55 AM
that's the benefit of Central Government thinking (putting the majority of bureaucrats in one spot).... nothing like this happens in Shanghai. Don't laugh too loud Vancouver, your "boy mayor" seems to be attempting to challenge this dubious record every time he creates more bike lanes.
Posted by: merle | Aug 24, 2021 8:20:19 PM
that's right, it's the bike lanes !! nevermind that the reasons for the traffic jam were given in this article, and not once was a bike lane mentioned........ummm, ya.
no matter how hard i try, i can't fathom the addition of bike lanes causing this. unless the 'boy mayor' leaves half a lane for cars and dedicates the rest of the lanes to bikes. is this what is going on in vancouver? likely not.
let's hear it for people who try too d@mn hard to connect one country's unconnected b.s. with another country's b.s. Nice work, but maybe blame the immigrants for this one. lmao
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