Staggered working hour schedule slightly improves rush hour traffic in Beijing

April 12 was the first day after Beijing adopted staggered working hours. Beijing's traffic management department said that the morning and evening rush hour were each prolonged by 30 minutes, but the average vehicle speed on the major roads in urban districts increased by 1 percent over the rush hour from the previous day.

Staggered working hour schedule slightly improves rush hour traffic in Beijing

Morning and evening rush hours last longer

According to Zhang Chenjun, vice director of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau’s command center, the morning rush was not over until 9:00 am on April 12, whereas it was nearly always over at 8:30 am in the past. The period that saw peak traffic flow was half an hour longer. Also, the evening rush hour was also half an hour longer, and traffic on the roads in central Beijing did not return to normal until about 7:30 pm. This means that not only did the morning and evening peak hours, but also the peak traffic flow and congestion time, were longer yesterday. 　

Vehicle speed has increased one percent month on month 　　

Zhang said that affected by the traffic control policies during the morning peak hours, traffic on many roads was slow, but the new policy of staggering working hours has yielded good overall results. For example, vehicle speed on the main ring and connecting roads increased 6.3 percent between 7:00 am and 8:00 am. 　

According to the monitoring statistics from the traffic department, between 7:00 am and 9:00 am on April 12, all indexes picked up compared to Mondays in March, and the volume of traffic on the major roads in central Beijing decreased 1.5 percent month on month with vehicle speed increased 1 percent month on month.