Here’s something clever and fascinating that I never knew about: it seems that, in China, there’s a service to rescue people trapped in seemingly impenetrable traffic jams. It’s known as “jam-busting,” which also sounds like a suggestive and messy activity you might be made to do at a summer camp. From what I can tell, the concept has been around for quite a while, as I’ve seen stories about it as far back as 2011 and as recently as last December 25, which I think is a holiday in many areas. I want to say it’s Michaelmas? The service is actually extremely clever, and if you’ve not heard of it, like I haven’t I think it’s interesting to consider, especially if you’re currently stuck in traffic.
As I was looking into this, I’ll admit that I was really surprised to find that China hardly shows up at all on lists of global cities with the worst traffic; I’d always assumed massive Chinese cities like Beijing would have pretty miserable road traffic, just because of the sheer number of people and cars there. And yet, in list after list, there’s nowhere in China ranked at all!
How is this possible? Is it just not being reported? Maybe? There’s plenty of articles about traffic congestion in China, which makes me think that something strange is going on; can it have traffic this bad and somehow still be better than, say, London, the most commonly worst-ranked city for traffic, or Boston or Philadelphia? I mean, maybe, but it’s still strange.
Hell, there’s even a scientific paper from July 2022 titled “Exploring the spatiotemporal pattern of traffic congestion performance of large cities in China: A real-time data-based investigation” and its abstract starts with “The socioeconomic costs of traffic congestion are crippling in urbanizing China,” which sounds pretty dire. Hell back in August of 2010, there was a 12-day-long traffic jam in Beijing; there’s a bunch of videos talking about it, like this one:
There have been other colossal traffic jams since then, like this astounding-looking one from 2015:
… so I’m a little baffled how China manages to stay off of all of those worst-traffic lists.
But, I suppose blowing the lid off the global conspiracy not to list Chinese cities on listicles of cities with the worst traffic will have to wait, because I just want to describe these traffic jam rescue services, which, interestingly, seem to have initially been illegal in Beijing, but now appear to be allowed. I mean, I think; the strange part about all of these articles (which are really all pulling from just a few source articles) is that they sometimes seem to be writing about these services as though they’re no longer around, and sometimes as though they’re currently available. I’ve reached out to someone in China to try and figure out if these still operate, so if and when I hear back, I’ll update.
It doesn’t matter that much, though, because I’m more interested in the concept itself. For around $60, if you were hopelessly locked in traffic and desperately needed to get somewhere on time, you could call one of these services, which would send two people on a motorcycle to find you in your car; I can only assume you’d drop them a pin or some equivalent to your exact location on the road.
By lane-splitting and weaving around the cars stuck in traffic, the motorcycle would get to you. At that point, you would swap positions with the person on the back, who would get in your car and drop it off wherever you told them. You, now on the back of the motorcycle, would be rapidly whisked through traffic to your destination.
It’s really clever, though there are a few pretty obvious issues: if, say, you were trying to get to the airport for a flight, you’d only be able to take your personal item at best, since you’re not getting a couple suitcases on most motorcycles. And then, of course, there’s the issue of what to do with your car keys after your vehicle is taken to the agreed drop-off point, which also relates to the issue of trust, because a hell of a lot is involved here.
There’s not just the trust of handing off your car to a stranger, but also riding, quickly and maybe a bit recklessly, on the back of a motorcycle through dense traffic. This trust issue seems to have been at least part of the downfall of at least one of these services, Dingding Yueche, which was mentioned in a few of these stories as having been around in 2015 but having to stop because of “safety concerns,” which I think are the same sort of trust issues.
So, while I’m not entirely sure what to believe about these services or how long they operated or if they still do, I have to wonder if they could be viable for other cities with terrible traffic, like London or Los Angeles. I lived in LA for about 20 years, and being stuck on the 405 is a particular hell I’m quite familiar with. You can do lane-splitting on a motorcycle in LA, so conceptually, this could work there. What would it take to make it viable?
The people coming to get you would need to have a clean helmet and motorcycle gear for you; there’d need to be some sort of guarantees in place for the safety of you and your car, too, perhaps in conjunction with local police, who could have a way for you to upload the license plate of the motorcycle you’re getting on and your car’s plate? Could that help? I think for this to work there’d need to be some sort of interaction with a third party to provide reasonable safety assurances.
But, if all these things were in place, and you could get out of being stuck for two hours in traffic to being where you need to be in 15 minutes, I think this could be an appealing option.
At least until it became so common that it created a secondary traffic jam of motorcycles in between lanes. In that case, you should subscribe to my new service where I’ll send someone in a hang glider to pluck you off the motorcycle and take you to your destination. It’ll be great!
When I was living in Detroit there was a fatal accident on the Southfield where a pedestrian bridge had to be removed. Traffic was jammed for miles. Matthew Stafford was stuck in the accident so the team had a driver swap vehicles with him so he could drive the back way into Allen Park and that driver sat in the traffic jam. Me I was in Antigua, enjoying my honeymoon and happy I didn’t have to work in Dearborn that day.
I’d prefer the Tanaka system as demonstrated in “You Only Live Twice.” Just make sure you are very clear where, and how, you want to be dropped off. Also useful for getting rid of tailgators and left-lane campers.
Warning, not for use if you have a pacemaker and/or lots of metal dental work.
Reading the headline instantly assumed you’d desert your car.And that would still be a massive win. But taking over your car for you? That’s service baby!
I’ve actually been saved by a bike on my way to an airport of a third world country.Or i probably should say my bank account was saved,coz rebooking would have cost a fortune.It helped that this was in a country where riding skills and road manners are quite good,but i’d probably do it in crazy countries too.
I’ve been in Beijing for over 20 years and have never heard of this service!
Traffic is pretty bad, but tolerable, and I feel that the etiquette of drivers has been steadily improving. In comparison, this summer I was in LA and the traffic was worse, but most drivers were “nicer”. While in Beijing the flow is generally better but there are less instances of others letting you merge or change lanes with ease.
… so I’m a little baffled how China manages to stay off of all of those worst-traffic lists.
Exactly the same way they managed to have only three or four deaths from Covid-19 per million people throughout the pandemic.
This reminds me of the “Bangkok helicopter” AKA motorcycle taxi in Bangkok 8 by John Burdett, which can quickly get you anywhere in the city in mere minutes of abject terror. Bring spare underwear.
What’s not to like?
Racing through the busy main streets, and a few scary back streets, of Bangkok hanging on to a, quite often drugged, lunatic piloting a souped-up, oversized moped. About halfway to your destination you remember that this is a Buddhist country, so your driver likely trusts more to the ‘holy’ amulets hanging around his neck than Western concepts like defensive riding, controlled braking and rules of the road so you press your knees closer around the bike. You close your eyes and concentrate on some happy place in your mind, while the lights of cars, trucks and myriad billboards are reflected on your clenched eye lids and the air rushes by, just hoping that you will arrive in one piece and not via a hospital.
When the bike finally stops, the driver pats your leg and you try to unravel your limbs, find your spine and your wallet to pay the fare. “Kaow siep baht krap” he says, smiling at the way your legs can’t yet take your weight. This is Asia, the home of saving, gaining always aware of face. So you pass him a 100, smile and say “could have been quicker”.
This was an idea in Nathan for You!
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5207254/
“,,,December 25, which I think is a holiday in many areas.,,”
Would that be the 12th day of Festivus?
If I lived anywhere with traffic that required a personal motorized land vehicle to get around I’d be on a motorcycle or scooter of some sort.
I hate traffic with a passion.
I never got caught in messy traffic in China, thankfully, but noticed something in Taiwan.
On one trip my hotel room was several floors up and overlooked a main thoroughfare/intersection. After the light turned red and the cars and trucks were stopped, the folks on scooters and motorcycles (mostly scooters) would fill in the gaps around the larger vehicles. From my vantage point it looked like the cars and trucks were bricks and the two-wheelers were mortar.
And the oddest thing happened: when the light turned green, the larger vehicles let the quicker and more agile scooters get moving before they set off. Everyone behaved. It seemed to work really well.
May I direct your attention to much of Asia? The ingenuity in loading two-wheelers is mindboggling.
I forget where exactly (Europe? the UK?), but someone started experimenting with replacing control signage with ones that simply say “take turns.” And somewhat surprisingly, it worked okay.
“The ingenuity in loading two-wheelers is mindboggling.” Someone I know claimed that he once saw a family in Asia on a scooter. Dad was driving, Mom was all the way in the back holding a baby, with 2 kids sandwiched between Mom & Dad. And a dog on the running boards.
Yep, you can see a lot of that: GIS for “family on a scooter”
A dutch mother of 4 would love to have a discussion about how this easily works on a bicycle.
I commuted over Sepulveda pass on the CA 405 for a decade. While a good chunk of drivers are oblivious, there’s a lot of drivers that will let motorcycles through. It’s one less person stuck in front of you after all.
I had a service similar to your hang glider pickup idea only I used “trained” California condors that would swoop down, pluck you off the roof of your car and carry you to your destination. A little rough on the shoulders with the talons and all, but it sorta worked. I say sorta because, while I could get the condors to snag customers off of cars, I couldn’t prevent them from flying off with the people and dropping them in their nests to feed their chicks. Lots of lawsuits … lots.
But but… something about tunnels under the traffic…
Sometimes I enjoy when the article gets to the point. You know if it is a boring story about traffic jams and the plot twist isn’t really that exciting. I am beginning to think Autopian pays its writers or at least it’s editors by the word.
Have you ever read anything Torch has written ever? If succinctness and normalcy is what you desire, I suggest you delete your account and subscribe to Car and Driver or one of the many other boring outlets.
Hey Hoss I read his writing when he started at Jalopnik. Providing some proper advice doesn’t hurt. Torch is a writer capable of proper subject matter and concise information as long as it isn’t taillights.
You’re really cool.
Not really just a fat old genx who says what he thinks.
We actually earn a regular paycheck. If we were paid by the word, David and I would be rolling in dough. 🙂
Yeah and I would be making even more. HAHAHA. But really some articles are interesting enough for more words some need substantially less. And some need lawyer involvement and some need financial expertise involvement.
Also I’m not wearing pants.
Also I’m not wearing pants.
Which comes as a surprise to no-one.