24 September 2007

Odds and evens.. on the road

| paperboy
Join the conversation
29

Here’s an idea we can only hope will never be introduced.

According to today’s Canberra Times, ACT Government Minister John Hargreaves has returned from a trip to China with a proposal to restrict Canberrans to driving their cars every second day.

The idea has been tested in Beijing, where, under an odds and evens number plate system, around 1.3 million cars have been taken off the streets each day in a bid to cut pollution in the lead up to next year’s Olympics.

The Canberra Times story opens with the line that Canberra residents “could be restricted to driving their cars every second day”, but there’s no direct quote from the Minister to back it up. Only a statement that Mr Hargreaves said he would be keen to see the results of the trials.

They wouldn’t… would they?

Join the conversation

29
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I have never been to Beijing, and I do not care how they drive over there, apart from the fumes from their vehicles are tearing a hole in the atmosphere big enough for nasty solar radiation to get through in oodles.

That, and I hope they have those stupid red circle things hanging off their rear-vision mirrors like they do in Aus.

It’s not a new system in Beijing. It was there in 1998 when I visited and is simply so you are able to drive in the city area. If all the cars were on the road in any given day there would be complete gridlock. It has nothing to do with polution.

Absent Diane9:45 am 25 Sep 07

it might work somewhere with a massive population but not here.

As far as stupid ideas go, I think that this one may be his stupidest.

there’s no bus where I live (in NSW). BUT! When I move back into the ACT, there’s no bus there, either. hasn’t been in 1978. Nice pie in the sky idea, but until they have sensible park’n’rides, and a service for ALL ACT ratepayers, it’s just a really, really stupid idea.

Nice idea, but insufficient public transport, and as atoz said, in places where this policy is in place rich people just buy two cars and its the poor that get jipped.

Is there anything worth going on a Junket that can’t be Googled ?

Thought so, perhaps he should have kept quiet about the whole darn thing…

I blame Tuggeranong for electing Hargraeves.

His next idea will be an electronic toll for all vehicles entering the Inner North and South because the level of congestion is just mayhem. lol

Lets implement this proposal once Canberra reaches a population and congestion level approaching that of Bombay ie about 13 million.

What an idiot so all he got from his tax payer junket to China was an idea to implement a traffic solution deemed necessary in a city probably 1000 times more congested then Canberra’s meandering some what relaxing empty roads lol.

This was tried in Greece. Everybody there just went and bought 2 cars, so ended up just making it worse.

Monorail. Monorail. Monorail. Monorail. Monorail.

I think Minister John Hargreaves is a epic FAIL! Fix potholes, speed up road work, traffic lights ect..

He must of thought of this great idea on the plane trip back because he 4got to write his report on y tax payers paid for him to go there and have a glance at the building process.

I agree VY. that will just encourage me to buy a second car as well.

agree. Explain your taxpayer funded jaunt, then resign Hargreaves.

out of touch.

Hargreaves doesn’t take any notice of the “only drive if you’re not pissed” rule, so obviously the “odds and evens” rule won’t apply to him either.

tee hee hee.

Only for Lesbians bourke…

Geeeeeeeezzzzz!!!!! You’d think with this sort of outcry that he’d suggested the one-child policy!

I can only say this: HAH!

What was this clown doing in China anyway. A trip funded by ACT ratepayers.

The ACT Government has no legitimate reasons for travelling on junkets to China.

The London Circuit Soviets would love to ban cars entirely, that’s one way of getting people on the utopian buses, and warding off the evil climate change spirits.

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt9:32 am 24 Sep 07

Hang on a tick, I’ll be fine: one of my number plates has an odd number, the other an even! Thanks to the government who implements such a scheme, though, for making me drive the V8 every second day, instead of only once or twice a week.

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt9:25 am 24 Sep 07

This is laughable. I drive each day so I can drop my kid at childcare and then drop my wife and work, and pick them both up in reverse at the end of the day. This means the wife and I don’t both need to drive each day. Also, I live in NSW, so there’s no viable bus service anyway.

Will this mean I can only drive my car to the border?? In that case I suggest Mr Hargreaves needs to build a bus interchange on Canberra Ave at the Border and provide me with free bus trips.

Otherwise he can contact my boss in Sydney and tell him why I can only work every second day.

For those trying to find the story, it was in yesterday’s Canberra Times (page 10). Took until this morning to be posted.

Totally agree with danman and hingo. Also I’m in the SES so need to be able to get to HQ when needed. Or maybe Mr Hargreaves only wants his storm damaged house fixed on even days of the month 😉

We’re not an over polluted city, we don’t have a pending olympics, we don’t have a good public transport ssytem and we don’t have overcrowding on our roads. This proposal is utterly stupid.

How would one get to work as I now do at 0645 ?

Action busses are laughable – spesh from Ngunnawal.

barking toad8:56 am 24 Sep 07

John’s been sipping again.

F**k off and fix potholes instead of trying to be a social engineer

hingo_VRCalaisV68:52 am 24 Sep 07

I’ll restrict my driving to every second day if I only need to go to work every second day. Otherwise, I have no alternative.

Canberra is a bit different from Beijing. Canberra hasn’t got 9234523923423234923 billion residents producing 123123121233 million babies an hour.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.