The #1 rule I would enforce is an incentive to clear the scene of minor fender-benders, which in my experience cause close to 1 out of every 3 jams in the city.

How many times have you been in a 30-minute backup, only to discover when you reach the head of the line that the cause of the backup are two a-holes whose cars brushed up against one another and have no visible damage, but the insist on leaving their cars in the precise spot the damage occurred, jabbering about whose fault it is and awaiting the arrival of some sort of adjudicator?

Here's what I'd do:

1. Mandatory collision insurance on all vehicles.

2. "No fault" insurance -- aka the damages are taken care of by insurance. However, if you are involved in any sort of fender-bender, both parties -- regardless of fault -- have points taken away on your license and an automatic RMB 500 fine. And of course your insurance premiums will go up if you are involved in an accident.

3. Mandatory immediate clearing of all non-injury traffic accidents. Anyone whose vehicles remain at the scene of the accident for any period of time will automatically lose their license for one month. Second time offenders will lose their license for a year, and third time offenders will have their testicles removed at the scene with a pair of rusty pliers.

Remove cars of a certain age from the roads.

Crush them into scrap metal, use this material in the building of further subway lines.

Remove cars of a certain "quality" from the roads, ie: QQ, Xiali, City Baby, etc. They are death traps anyway.

Crush the cars.

Increase the fine for driving on a day you are not allowed to drive.

Increase the price of license plates/insurance so that only the relatively well off can drive. The poor people can ride their bikes, take the subway or take the bus.

Begin an investigation to root out all the people driving with fake licenses and fake license plates. Put them in jail or fine the sh*t out of them.

... with the drivers still inside them

Really reserve one way for buses and have more bus.If every suburbs citizen could be sure to get to the city faster than any driver there wouldn't be so much single drivers driving -too- big cars.

i disagree. the concept of partial enforcement is exactly the issue here -- driving habits are out of control due to the fact that the law is only partially and unevenly applied -- the super-rich and super-connected have no need to follow the rules, nor do the lower ends of the economic spectrum like "hei che" drivers and the like.

1) ration the amount of gas each car owner could buy per month. this would put a limit on how often the car can go on the road each month.

2) only allow one car per household. this will prevent people from buying two cars with different plate numbers so that they can drive every day regardless of what plate number restriction is on any given day.

3) free restaurant and drinks vouchers for those who own a car but leave it at home when they go out on the weekends.

That's already happening with the new license restrictions,

and the weekends aren't the problem.

^ actually in my experiencetraffic is typically WORSE on the weekends, precisely because there are more cars on the road (no restriction via license plate number on weekends)

I.m.o. there is no solution to the problem.

This city simply contains too many people on a too small piece of land.

I spent 1,5 hours by bus from Sanyuanqiao to Wanda Plaza this morning. (usually only 20-30 minutes tops). I don't know what happened! I was stuck for half an hour on Tuanjiehu/Chaoyang Beilu intersection and I got off the bus and walked to Wanda Plaza.

I think BJ government should adapt the ERP system!

^ solutions, people ... not just complaints!

remember there's a bottle of wine at stake here...

in Jakarta, during rush hours, there's a system called three-in-one. Meaning that if your car has less than 3 passengers, you will be fined.

The consequences are: people with cars stay at the office until very late, or take back streets and they become very jammed. But the main roads are good.

A friend who works in that area has to hire a driver and an ayi to be able to arrive at work on time. There are also people on the streets who give the service of helping people who drives a car with less than 2 companions. They're paid around 10 kuai per trip.

Don't know if this is adaptable in Beijing.

@Nick 718 and 671. Nearest stop to Wanda Plaza is 小庄路口东

To change the tone slightly. This weekend I went from Yonganli over to Wudaokou. Empty second ring road, it took 20 minutes tops. Whatever was happening that day was working