These dramatic pics were taken by an aerial drone at a toll gate along the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway on Tuesday as vacationers headed back to the capital region. Highways throughout China were very congested, including the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway and the Xianghe Highway in Hebei.

The People’s Daily reports 750 million Chinese traveled over the holiday, 6.1 percent more than last year. But the traffic jams weren’t the only thing drivers had to watch out for. This year, police also began a crackdown on people who park or drive along the emergency vehicle lanes, catching more than 60,000 violators.

Tuesday also marked a return to heavy smog in Beijing. After a starting the National Day holiday with clear skies, the week off from work ended with AQI levels in the capital nearing 400, prompting a yellow smog alert.

Elsewhere, transportation was very busy as Chinese train stations and airports were packed full of holiday-goers (below):

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Last year, Chinese drivers celebrated World Car Free Day with traffic jams around the country. For this year, authorities decided to do things a little differently: if you can’t persuade a large number of drivers to go car-free, then at least you can isolate certain city street to be free of cars. It’s a more humble goal, but still in keeping with the spirit of World Car Free Day.

CCTV America reports that 170 Chinese cities got involved on World Car Free Day this year with campaigns to promote environmental protection while certain cities like Chongqing imposed traffic controls. Specifically in Beijing, three areas were designated as car-free zones on Tuesday from 9am to 4pm: Wangfujing Boulevard, Nanluoguxiang, and Olympic Center Road.

Beijing drivers were advocated to make detours from these three car-free zones with signs saying “Traffic control, vehicle detour”. However, unlike preparations for the September 3 military parade in which martial law was imposed on the city’s popular Sanlitun area, these car-free zones were only a suggestion made to Beijing drivers and not enforced.

The result was that this year’s World Car Free Day turned out much like last year’s in China. As noted by a reporter for People’s Daily Online, there was no reduction in cars in Beijing’s three designated car-free zones with traffic said to be the same as normal (seen in the gallery above). Meanwhile, the Beijing Transportation Committee said the city’s traffic index during morning rush hour at 8:10am was 8, signifying heavy traffic.

And while much of the focus of World Car Free Day is help advocate drivers to lessen the impact that cars have on the environment, Beijing’s air quality was quite poor, averaging an AQI level over 150, much like conditions during Sunday’s marathon at which a number of heart attacks were reported.

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However, when it comes to Beijing traffic, back to “normal” generally means back to gridlock. And that’s precisely what the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) is warning residents to expect today following heavy congestion across the city yesterday.

Yesterday marked the first day back at work after the holiday, as well as the first day without vehicle restrictions. And as one might expect, traffic was insane.  The BMCT predicted that yesterday’s congestion reached a 9.2 on the index, which means that the average speed on many city roads didn’t exceed 20 kph.

With today marking the first day of school for Beijing elementary and middle school students, the congestion is only expected to get worse.

This past spring, among a list of 45 cities across China, Beijing ranked as the most congested. While in July, the Beijing Transportation Research Center found Beijing’s traffic index to have worsened 32 percent as compared with the same month last year.

On average, Beijing commuters spend 32 minutes every day sitting in rush hour traffic.

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The van partially fell into a manhole and got stuck, so the driver decided to abandon it. Of course, being Shenyang, the traffic implications have been, shall we say, significant.

Although the manhole has the city’s name on it and is marked “municipal administration drainage”, Shenyang authorities are refusing to accept responsibility, instead suggesting the driver pursue the case in court. That might make sense, but it doesn’t change the fact the road is still partially blocked by an abandoned vehicle. For his part, the driver rejected the city’s position and is seeking RMB 200,000 ($32,200) in compensation.

As the only warning given to drivers about the faulty manhole cover was a squashed traffic cone,  the unnamed driver remains confident he has a good case. And he maintains he’d lose the case if he moved the van, saying:

I can not move the car, because then I would not have anything to reason with!

Leverage indeed. We wish the driver the best of luck. And wish the drivers attempting to drive around his minivan the best of patience.

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And now, it is getting even tougher.

Deputy mayor of Beijing Zhang Tingkun wants every driver in Beijing to first buy a parking space before being able to buy the car itself.

Zhang made the announcement during a session of the 19th meeting of the 40th National People’s Congress. The “Beijing Municipal Automobile Parking Regulation” is expected to come into effect in 2016 to address Beijing’s serious shortage of parking spaces.

While things may change before then (or not), Beijing drivers were not happy at all with Zhang’s announcement.

One netizen expressed her disgust with the comment, “It’s getting easier to detest Beijing’s government!!!” while another said, “To hell with your stupid rules.”

One commentator took things to its logical conclusion by saying, “To protect the environment, the capital should just outright ban the sale of cars.”

But netizens weren’t just full of outrage and sarcasm. One commentator pointed out, “When the time comes, there will be an emergence of a new business for the certification of parking spaces, and with it a new layer of corruption.” Another made the point that “Parking spaces aren’t mobile, but cars are. Therefore, there’s no need for every car to have a parking space. It’s crazy for our esteemed mayor to ensure that every car has a parking spot. Rich people can spend money to solve problems, while poor people can only laugh.”

It may turn out that Beijing drivers will need to put it in “park” before putting it into “drive”.

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Beijing has horrific traffic congestion, so bad it’s largely acknowledged as the worst in the country. However, Chinese ingenuity has found a way to leave Beijing’s clogged streets far behind (or rather, below): commute by helicopter.

Taxi app Didi Kuaidi is working with a helicopter company to offer chopper transportation to Beijing residents using a Bell 407 and a Bell 429. A three day trial run wrapped up on May 17 with more than 10,000 people wanting to use the service. Unfortunately the helicopters aren’t that big, so only 100 people got to commute through the sky.

The air taxi can also carry Beijing commuters to Tianjin for RMB 3,500 ($560), completing the 120 kilometer journey within 40 minutes. As well, the helicopter is available for sightseeing, taking tourists to the APEC site or to Yanxi Lake for RMB 1,999.

Air space in China has traditionally been reserved for the country’s military, but recent reforms have also opened up new flight paths for airline operators around the country.

Related:

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• Forget Regular Guangzhou Taxis, Now You Too Can Be a High-Roller
• Alibaba Delivering Tea by Drone

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Thursday’s evening rush hour is forecast to have a traffic index of 9 or 9.5. In practical terms, this means that a commute by car will be twice as long as normal, with estimates predicting six hour traffic jams to get into the city center. Highways are expected to be hit particularly hard, with forecasts predicting some of the worst traffic in recorded history.

The Beijing Municipal Transportation Research and Development Center suggests a number of places to avoid tomorrow. They include: Jianguomen, Chaoyangmen, Dongdan, and Chongwenmen in the east; Xidan, Xinjiekou, Jinrong Street, and Xuanwumen in the west; Gongti, Guomao, Shuangjing, Yansha, and Dawang Road in Chaoyang District; Zhongguancun, and Wudaokou’s Xueyuan Road in Haidian District; and Liuliqiao, Beijing West Road, and Muxi Park in Fengtai District.

The Center expects there to be 2.1 million cars on the highway on Thursday, 10 percent more than last year.

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China is home to more than 20 of the most congested cities for traffic in the world, and five are ranked among the world’s top 20, according to a report by TomTom, a dutch company specialising in car navigation services.

China’s most congested cities are its first-tier ones, with Chongqing taking top spot in China and 12th internationally, followed by Tianjin, Beijing and Guangzhou. Chengdu rounded out the top five Chinese cities, coming ahead of Shanghai as well as making it one of the top 20 most congested cities in the world at no. 19.

A number of cities in the Pearl River Delta made it onto the list. In addition to Guangzhou are Shenzhen as China’s 11th most congested city, Zhuhai in 12th place and Dongguan at 21. Another group to note are the Chinese cities that will make up the future Beijing supercity of Tianjin, Beijing and Shijiazhuang, Hebei at the number seven spot.

Taipei also made it onto the list as the 11th most traffic congested city in the world.

TomTom compiled the data by comparing travel times during peak periods against non-congested travel times, and expressing the result as a percentage. Chongqing has a congestion level of 38 percent in which an ordinary commute that takes 30 minutes in unobstructed traffic is delayed by 27 minutes during rush hour.

As bad as traffic conditions appear in Chongqing, car travel in Beijing may actually be worse. While Beijing has a 37 percent congestion level with a delay of 24 minutes for every 30 minute commute, it has more roads than Chongqing that still get clogged up. Though they are both large first-tier cities, Chongqing’s road network is only 5,575 kilometers long, of which 196 kilometers are highways. By comparison, Beijing has a road network of 20,834 kilometers in which 1,177 kilometers are highways.

Here is the list of China’s most congested cities for traffic, followed by their international ranking:

1. Chongqing; 12th
2. Tianjin; 14th
3. Beijing; 15th
4. Guangzhou, Guangdong; 17th
5. Chengdu, Sichuan; 19th
6. Shanghai; 24
7. Shijiazhuang, Hebei; 25th
8. Fuzhou, Fujian; 28th
9. Shenyang, Liaoning; 29th
10. Hangzhou, Zhejiang; 30th
11. Shenzhen, Guangdong; 31st
12. Zhuhai, Guangdong; 33rd
13. Changchun, Jilin; 35th
14. Changsha, Hunan 39th
15. Nanjing, Jiangsu; 42nd
16. Quanzhou, Fujian; 49th
17. Ningbo, Zhejiang; 52nd
18. Wuhan, Hubei; 54th
19. Xiamen, Fujian; 80th
20. Suzhou, Jiangsu; 82nd
21. Dongguan, Guangdong; 83rd
22. Wuxi, Jiangsu; 105th

Istanbul, Mexico City, and and Rio de Janeiro are the three most congested cities in the world.

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Based on the most recent quarterly traffic report, Beijing has officially surpassed Shanghai as the most congested city in China. The average daily congestion time has increased 25 minutes since 2012, to one hour 55 minutes.

AutoNavi, a leading navigation service provider, reported that Beijing’s delay index was 1.74 during regular hours, and 2.12 during peak periods. An index reading of 2.0 means that you spend twice as much time in transit than you would otherwise. The index is based on data collected from 300 million devices installed in Chinese taxis and vehicles that record a vehicle’s speed, location and driving direction.

Frequent rain and smog were also cited as contributing to the city’s traffic problem, especially during the September school season.

The capital’s traffic gridlock has become so bad that many residents have dubbed it “Shoudu” (首堵), or primary congestion in English, which sounds like capital in Chinese. According to China Daily, the implications are more than simply an inconvenience: congestion costs Beijing approximately RMB 70 billion ($11.24 billion) per year, of which 80% is attributed to lost productivity, 10% to gas expenses, and 10% to environmental degradation.

According to Shenzhen News, the other cities on the top 10 list are Hangzhou, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Dalian, Jinan, Shenyang, Wenzhou, Guangzhou and Zhengzhou. Shenzhen ranked 12th on the list, with a congestion delay index of 1.97 during peak periods.

As for Beijing, officials are weighing different options to curb the city’s traffic problem, including imposing traffic congestion fees on private cars to encourage more drivers to use public transportation.

Photos: China Travel

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For the uninitiated, traffic in mainland China is not about yielding to others. Instead, the “right of way” is something given to whomever can get there first. Chinese roads are treacherous, as both aggressive driving and jaywalking are common.

That’s why this CCTV report, which was about Macau, has attracted so much attention.

Chinese people have long said that the aggressiveness on the roads is cultural, and how Chinese people get things done in time. The fact the politeness happened in Macau – a Chinese territory filled with Chinese residents – was perplexing.

Many commentators scoffed at the Macau example, saying it wouldn’t work in the mainland:

奋斗年代-甲乙丙丁：
If it was like this on the mainland… when going to work in the morning, you’d wait until it turned dark before you were able to pass the pedestrian crossing.

期盼五月天：
If it was like this on the mainland, drivers would not be able to move…

獵奇腐：
Actually, it’s like this everywhere outside of China: cars will all stop for people! They’ll willingly brake and let you (pedestrians) go first! However, the problem is that there are few foreigners (in China)!!
Have you ever considered all the cars in line that are held up when the car in front stops for a pedestrian in China? What’s more, are you able to stop for all the pedestrians here?

SunsiHao丶：
Idiot. How many people are there in Macau versus how many people in mainland China? Complying to these terms would mean heavy traffic congestion.

文玩珠宝聚臻堂：
This works as long as the population is low. To institute this on the mainland would to cause a traffic jam that would be backed up right to the base of the Great Wall of China.

牛得光宗耀祖：
It’s not that they can’t learn. With so many people in China, there’s no way to let them go (ahead).

If you read other comments, you’ll see that the problem isn’t too many people, but the pedestrians themselves:

Vay南柯：
It’s not that they won’t learn (to follow the Macau custom), it’s that mainland Chinese pedestrians don’t have the ability to see while drivers wait at intersections (for them). Don’t think about trying to trying to take the car out for a drive in the morning. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself.

圆小圆YY：
So many people… when witnessing the morning and evening rush hour… (a legion that is) simply without end. 

On the other hand, some say that it is the drivers that are causing the problem:

Luvian冰：
I have personally experienced the pedestrian crosswalks in Macau! Everyday while going to work an electric scooter or two nearly collides with me. You’re taking your life in your own hands when commuting to work or back home.

Others say the discrepancy is because Macau follows laws:

孙国庆：
According to traffic rules, Macau drivers have it very different than mainland drivers. Drivers must completely stop for pedestrians at a pedestrian crosswalk, or when pedestrians have the green light. As they must wait until pedestrians are one meter away from their cars before driving off, drivers can not transgress upon the safety of pedestrians. On the other hand, people who cross against red lights will still be dealt with under the law if they are hit.

Noah六六：
Harsh penalties will instill good habits. (Bad driving is a sign of the) unresigned determination that typifies all mainlanders located up until the Yellow River.

Before we write off the entire mainland, many pointed out that fellow tourist town Hangzhou has drivers that are similarly courteous to those in Macau:

InitialDream请叫我SISISISmile：
It’s like this in Hangzhou, too.

sunny_米：
Hangzhou is able to do this, though there are pedestrians that cross when the light is red.

巧克力小宝a：
I’ve stayed in Hangzhou for an extended time. Hangzhou drivers will stop for pedestrians at crosswalks!

And a few more:

關馬高：
The normal compliance of traffic rules has become a system of learning by example.]

1435疯小鱼：
One country, two systems…

云毅巜：
No traffic lights! Either (you’re a pedestrian) that gets run over by a car, or (a driver) that gets swindled! (implying a use of the “broken vase” trick)

抱吴亦凡大腿：
Macau is rich, but what does the mainland have? A Macau passport has all types of visa exemptions, but what (benefits) does a mainland visa have?

One more thing Macau has are traffic-awareness programs that promote safety at pedestrian crossings. If mainland China wants to follow Macau’s example, they’ll need to hire these guys, and their costumes.

Photos: aomenshizheng, macaocp, CCTV

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