The impact of transportation control measures on emission reductions during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang, Jiming Hao, Jinchuan Chen, Chunyan Li
1. Full citation and abstract? Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang, Jiming Hao, Jinchuan Chen, Chunyan Li，“The impact of transportation control measures on emission reductions during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China”, ScienceDirect, 27 October 2009. Abstract: Traffic congestion and air pollution were two major challenges for the planners of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Beijing municipal government implemented a package of temporary transportation control measures during the event. In this paper, the authors report the results of a recent research project that investigated the effects of these measures on urban motor vehicle emissions in Beijing.
2. Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project. Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang and Jiming Hao are from Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, and State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control of Tsinghua University. Jinchuan Chen and Chunyan Li are from Beijing Transportation Research Center.
3. What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report? The results suggest that reasonable traffic system improvement strategies along with vehicle technology improvements can contribute to controlling total motor vehicle emissions in Beijing after the Olympic Games.
4. Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
In this study, a special module has been developed for estimating the effect of transportation control measures on the average vehicle emission factor. The emission factor was mainly influenced by the control measures adopted during the Games in two ways.First, vehicle operation parameters such as speed have been affected by traffic flow control, which is one of the most important factors affecting emissions. Second, fleet technology configurations have also been changed as yellow labeled vehicles were banned throughout Beijing and strict operational restrictions were also placed on trucks.
Table 1: Influence of transportation control measures on the main factors of traffic emissions.
Fig.1 shows the reduction ratio in daily traffic flows for each vehicle category from continuous traffic monitoring at 132 road links before and during the Olympics. Vehicle categories other than taxis and buses show a significant decrease in traffic flow due to the temporary traffic control measures.The flow change at the curbside monitoring sites was also shown in Fig. 1. Daily flow of LDV and HDT has been reduced by 30.1% and 53.8%, respectively, during the Games. The flow of taxis and buses has been increased by 29.6% and 9.8%, respectively.
Fig 1: Daily traffic flow reduction ratio monitored during the Olympics. Line within box: Median value; Top line of box: third quartile; Bottom line of box: first quartile; Top outlier: maximum; Bottom outlier: minimum.
The monitoring sites are close to the main Olympic venues, which could be the reason for higher public transportation demand. Two Olympic-specific lanes and increasing trips to the Olympic Park have also counteracted the effect of traffic control. Fig. 2 shows the weekday hourly flow monitored at the North 4th Ring Road. Hourly flow data has shown that most traffic reduction was achieved during the daytime. Traffic flow between midnight and 3:00 shows a temporarily slight increase because the municipal government issued a supplemental rule suspending license-based traffic control measures during these three hours.
Fig 2: Variation of weekday traffic flow at the North 4th Ring road before and during the Olympics.
5. What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
“For a city with a rapid growth of its private motor vehicles, traditional macro-scale emission inventory methodology based on vehicle population and macro-scale activity parameters like annual mileage per vehicle may cause a substantial error when estimating traffic emissions in Beijing. A bottom up methodology which integrates a traffic demand model calibrated with annual traffic monitoring may provide a more reliable inventory in a fast changing city like Beijing.”
“The experience gained in achieving good air quality during the Olympics suggests that besides vehicle technology improvement, the traffic system can also be improved to attain lower total emissions. Such strategies may include travel demand management and improvement of the public transportation system.”
“Traffic congestion and air pollution were two major challenges for the planners of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Beijing municipal government implemented a package of temporary transportation control measures during the event. In this paper, we report the results of a recent research project that investigated the effects of these measures on urban motor vehicle emissions in Beijing. Bottom up methodology has been used to develop grid-based emission inventories with micro-scale vehicle activities and speed-dependent emission factors.”
6. What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
Bottom up methodology has been used to develop grid-based emission inventories with micro-scale vehicle activities and speed-dependent emission factors. The urban traffic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 mm or less (PM10) during the 2008 Olympics were reduced by 55.5%, 56.8%, 45.7% and 51.6%, respectively, as compared to the grid-based emission inventory before the Olympics. Emission intensity was derived from curbside air quality monitoring at the North 4th Ring Road site, located about 7 km from the National Stadium. Comparison between the emission intensity before and during the 2008 Olympics shows a reduction of 44.5% and 49.0% in daily CO and NOx emission from motor vehicles.
7. How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The policies were strictly implemented during the time before the Olympic Games. However, after the Olympic Games, there is no obvious improvement of the air quality in Beijing. Even the updated New Environmental Law was implemented, Beijing still struggling from the heavy air pollution. Moreover, during the time of Olympic Games, the regulations about vehicle emissions didn’t implemented in other area especially in the inland. Therefore, these are two inequities hidden behind the article.
8. Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
Shuzhao Wang et al., “Quantifying the Air Pollutants Emission Reduction during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing”, Environmental Science and Technology (Impact Factor: 5.33). 03/2010; 44(7):2490-6. DOI: 10.1021/es9028167
9. Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
The bibliography is about modeling the urban transportation or measuring the relationship between the air pollution and vehicle emissions. Therefore, the article is developed on a study by modeling the urban transportation, then made the conclusion from experiment results.
Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang, Jiming Hao, Jinchuan Chen, Chunyan Li
1. Full citation and abstract?
Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang, Jiming Hao, Jinchuan Chen, Chunyan Li，“The impact of transportation control measures on emission reductions during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China”, ScienceDirect, 27 October 2009.
Abstract: Traffic congestion and air pollution were two major challenges for the planners of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Beijing municipal government implemented a package of temporary transportation control measures during the event. In this paper, the authors report the results of a recent research project that investigated the effects of these measures on urban motor vehicle emissions in Beijing.
2. Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
Yu Zhou, Ye Wu, Liu Yang, Lixin Fu, Kebin He, Shuxiao Wang and Jiming Hao are from Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, and State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control of Tsinghua University.
Jinchuan Chen and Chunyan Li are from Beijing Transportation Research Center.
3. What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
The results suggest that reasonable traffic system improvement strategies along with vehicle technology improvements can contribute to controlling total motor vehicle emissions in Beijing after the Olympic Games.
4. Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
Table 1: Influence of transportation control measures on the main factors of traffic emissions.
Fig 1: Daily traffic flow reduction ratio monitored during the Olympics. Line within box: Median value; Top line of box: third quartile; Bottom line of box: first quartile; Top outlier: maximum; Bottom outlier: minimum.
Fig 2: Variation of weekday traffic flow at the North 4th Ring road before and during the Olympics.
5. What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
6. What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
Bottom up methodology has been used to develop grid-based emission inventories with micro-scale vehicle activities and speed-dependent emission factors. The urban traffic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 mm or less (PM10) during the 2008 Olympics were reduced by 55.5%, 56.8%, 45.7% and 51.6%, respectively, as compared to the grid-based emission inventory before the Olympics. Emission intensity was derived from curbside air quality monitoring at the North 4th Ring Road site, located about 7 km from the National Stadium. Comparison between the emission intensity before and during the 2008 Olympics shows a reduction of 44.5% and 49.0% in daily CO and NOx emission from motor vehicles.
7. How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The policies were strictly implemented during the time before the Olympic Games. However, after the Olympic Games, there is no obvious improvement of the air quality in Beijing. Even the updated New Environmental Law was implemented, Beijing still struggling from the heavy air pollution. Moreover, during the time of Olympic Games, the regulations about vehicle emissions didn’t implemented in other area especially in the inland. Therefore, these are two inequities hidden behind the article.
8. Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
Shuzhao Wang et al., “Quantifying the Air Pollutants Emission Reduction during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing”, Environmental Science and Technology (Impact Factor: 5.33). 03/2010; 44(7):2490-6. DOI: 10.1021/es9028167
9. Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
The bibliography is about modeling the urban transportation or measuring the relationship between the air pollution and vehicle emissions. Therefore, the article is developed on a study by modeling the urban transportation, then made the conclusion from experiment results.