In recent years, China has worked to cut pollution by reducing congestion on its city roads, measured by the number of hours drivers spend in rush hour traffic (the hours between 7am-9am and 5pm-7pm).
In spite of rising populations, its efforts appear to be working. Quartz analyzed the change in congestion levels of China’s largest cities from 2016 to 2017 using data from Alibaba-owned software company AutoNavi’s annual traffic report. More than half of the top 30 most-congested cities in 2016 saw a decline in the time drivers spent in rush hour traffic one year later. The cities with the worst congestion problems saw the greatest declines. In Hangzhou and Shenzhen, traffic declined 12.5% and 9%, respectively, even when population grew by 3% and 5%, respectively. [...]
China’s success in fighting urban traffic is due to several factors. According to AutoNavi’s report, license plate restrictions, the rapid growth of bike sharing, and the use of data in city planning have all helped alleviate traffic. Strategies to restrict population growth could also have played a role in lowering the number of cars on roads.
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