Leave Home Early to Avoid Traffic Jam
By Jian Shuo Wang on 2008-05-26 22:59 · RoadsThe recent traffic in Shanghai is worse and worse. Wendy and I was deeply annoyed by the current situation. The trip from our home to my office was used to be 45-50 minutes, but now, it is always more than 1 hour. There are many metro stations along the Zhaojiabang Road (4 of them), and Xujiahui just detoured all the traffic on Hongqiao Road to allow space for Metro #9, and #11 station construction. This adds another minute delay.
So we have decided to leave home before 7:00 AM instead of before 8:00 AM. This is the first try. We wake up at 6:40, and left home before 7:00 AM. The reason we choose 7 is, then we can get to the elevated highway before 7:30 AM, from when we are not allowed to use the road.
Today’s test is discouraging. It also takes 1 hour for us to get to Xujiahui. The good thing is, though, we don’t need to worry about being late to office.
So, we thought of an even more aggressive plan. We hope to stick to 7 AM for some time, and push our limit forward to leave home at around 6:00 AM. Let’s see what it looks like.
P.S. What we can confirm is, one day, we left home at 5 AM, and it was pretty empty everywhere, which inspired us to wake up early to avoid the traffic.
Update about Earthquake
Like all the other days, we sit before TV to watch what is going on in the earthquake area. The jammed dam was dangerous enough to breakout, and tonight, they have to migrate about 300,000 people from Mianyang to higher mountains. The plan to move more than 1 million people is in place in case the dam collapse. It is another round of danger for the suffered people there. I will keep my fingers crossed, and keep donating money to them. If you want to help, I would appreciate it on behalf of the people in epicenter.
Thinking of Charity Sale of eBook of this Blog
I am also thinking about assembly something, like a e-book of all my blog entries with pictures, to put on a charity sale on my blog. 100% the money will go to disaster relief efforts. Anyone has any idea about what is the best way to do it based on a MovableType platform?
17 Comments
Or Car sharing?
Or taking subway?
I'm in Mexico now, but I have lived in China and travelled and visited many places, this seems to become a bigger and usual problem in cities, These days I'm prefering to use the public transportation since it's cheaper and I help the environment and also because I have free time to read or do some other pending task instead of being angry and mad in the traffic, it's nonsense and also because we know the oil is getting more and more scarce, thus more expensive! All the people of the world should be cautious about continue to buy cars indiscriminatedly! Cars that wont have fuel in a couple of years of which oil need will be more expensive than the car in some point!!!
Every country should stop this and promote the use of other means of transportation besides helping people to find jobs,schools and all the needs of daily life closer to their homes!
We are too many people in the world and the resources are limited... Let's take conscience!
PD Jianshuo, congratulations in your ideas to help and donate! I'm sure one recopilation of your many stories, maps and orientations will be very helpful for everyone and specially if you prepare it in a printable design, it could become the book of the year, and your donation could be so big!! All the luck!
Thanks for sharing your feelings and concerns with us as always!!!
Also just as an aside, I was wondering-- is the Chinese government repealing the One Child Policy for people in the earthquake regions? I like China and the Chinese people, and I understand the difficulty of the challenge that China faces-- ensuring that the Chinese population stabilizes at replacement fertility (2.1 or whatever), ensuring that the economy is supported by enough young workers. It's a difficult challenge for any country, and I understand why the Chinese government encourages smaller families (even if i I wish it were more of a voluntary policy).
Still-- it just seems cruel to me to be enforcing the One Child Policy now in Sichuan or other regions vulnerable to earthquakes or floods like this. The families love their children and also depend on their kids to grow up and provide for them, and it would seem fair to me to allow families in earthquake or flood-vulnerable regions to have more than one child. If they have only one child and then lose their child-- as so many families did-- then they lose everything, and in a dangerous region like Sichuan where a schoolhouse can collapse like that, it would seem reasonable to allow couples to have larger families.
Anyway, just my two cents. My heart goes out to everyone there, and again, please let your readers know if there is anything we can do to help for earthquake relief.
According to an announcement from Chengdu govt, families who lost their kids in this earthquake are allowed to have one more child.
My friend's dad (from Henan) paid a hefty fine for having a second child. However some of my friends coming from a rich province to the south, actually have siblings and their parents were not fined at all. In one case, this particular friend of mine has 3 siblings!
Taking the subway during the rush hour is certainly not a good experience. Especially if you are to take line 2 in the morning, remember not to have too much breakfast, cuz under that kind of pressure, ANYTHING could happen...
its true that if you do not use the car your will not show to people that your own a car (status symbol), but if you do not drive yoru car and go with public transport, you will do to you and to all the following:
1) save petrol money bills in your pockets as well save the cost of car usage
2) most important of all save pollution to you and and everybody, as the not only the choking smokes of yoru car, but all the petrol plastic and pollutant material used for a car will be less consumes.. so finally you will help the world
3) dicreasing the consuem of petrol, will help to decrease wars, in example Iraq, Afganistan, durfur....
so think... instead to wake at 5.... take the subway.... you do a favour to you first and to everybody ...
"its true that if you do not use the car your will not show to people that your own a car (status symbol),"
Just wear a T-Shirt in the metro with a photo of your car, and a logo saying "This is my car" ;-)
"1) save petrol money bills in your pockets as well save the cost of car usage"
Saving money could allow you to spare it to buy a better one. Increase of status symbol. ;-)
And you will be contributing to reduce pollution and keep you fitter.
Everything perfect.
Jian Shuo