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City missing boat by failing to warn of traffic tie-ups
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BY invitation of a Swiss business school, I attended a seminar last Saturday at the piano bar of a luxury hotel in Pudong’s Lujiazui financial zone.
Well-dressed participants exchanged views on topics like monopolies, patents, genetically modified organisms and compulsory licensing. Outside the window was the night view across the Huangpu River.
After enjoying my cocktail, I took my leave and hailed a cab downstairs for my return trip.
It was around 8pm when we passed through the Fuxing Road Tunnel. My home is several kilometers away and my mom had prepared a hot meal as my late dinner. However, my cab stopped after it rode through the intersection of Chongqing Road and Fuxing Road. Countless vehicles stopped in front of us and moved forward several inches every dozens of seconds. When I got confused, my cabbie explained that, “It’s because the ongoing float parade on Huaihai Road.”
Though the next intersection was only 30 meters away, we spent 25 minutes to arrive there. My cabbie turned left as soon as he could to get away. Fortunately, there was no traffic jam on Xujiahui Road but when we passed through Ruijin Road we witnessed cars toward the north were also frozen in line.
I was not expecting the annual float parade. Obviously I missed the news report about the event, which served as the opening ceremony of this year’s Shanghai Tourism Festival. When I returned home, it was 45 minutes later and the dishes my mom cooked were cool.
The float parade on the second Saturday in September has been held for many years. Every year, Huaihai Road — one of the main streets at the very core of our city — is locked down, creating traffic jams on neighboring streets. Myriad cars slowly moved on Fuxing Road Saturday night, their drivers unable to do anything but suffer a big inconvenience.
For the people in a mega city of 23 million, why not be smarter about checking the latest news update so that we could adjust our plans and keep away from the area during the hours-long period that traffic is tied up?
Such problems are not limited to the once-a-year tourism parade on Huaihai Road.
A news report said some people who planned to join an important test held in the city were barred from entering when the annual marathon blocked their way so they could not cross the street to get to the exam spot. If they had checked the information ahead of the exam, they would have changed their routes or arrive earlier to avoid such a problem.
On the other hand, our urban administrators could serve us better. We have radio and television channels to report traffic conditions during rush hour.
The city government has informed us via text message about air raid sirens to sound this weekend. But I didn’t receive any texts about the traffic control and the float parade last Saturday, and neither did my colleagues and friends.
Why don’t our city administrators send us text messages about events of such kind? It would serve a dual purpose: to remind us so we could avoid the area, and also serve as a promotion, reminding parents who want to bring their children to Huaihai Road to witness fancy cars carrying Mickey Mouse or brass bands from foreign countries.
Next year, I hope I can receive a short message ahead of the parade so that I won’t miss my mom’s hot dishes again.
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