Chinese motorists stuck in traffic can now hire someone to sit in jams for them, with entrepreneurs finding a business opportunity in the growing gridlock across the car-crazy country.
As wider car ownership leaves roads more congested in the country of 1.3 billion, motorists can now escape by calling a substitute driver to take their cars to their destinations, China Daily reported Saturday.
As drivers are whisked away on the back of motorcycles, a car service employee sits in traffic for them, the state-run newspaper said.
The service is for “those with urgent dates or business meetings to go to, and those who have flights to catch and can’t afford to wait in a traffic jam for too long,” Huang Xizhong, whose company offers the service in the central city of Wuhan, was quoted as saying.
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4 comments
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January 20, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Sean
How about: for those motorists who are willing to hire substitute drivers, this innovation reduces the odds that they’ll get stuck forever in traffic, increases their expected utility from driving, and thus (other things being equal) makes them more likely to drive.
But if they’re more likely to drive, then jams are more likely in the first place.
This process should continue until the utility of the marginal driver sinks back to zero.
In the new equilibrium, there are more frequent traffic jams and resources are expended on substitute drivers, but motorists are not better off because of adjustment on the number-of-cars margin.
It would be much better to charge tolls (depending on where the money is spent, this could make everyone better off).
January 20, 2011 at 4:07 pm
jeff
word.
January 23, 2011 at 7:01 am
Siram
Am I the only one considering the possibility too create traffic jams with a few strategically placed cars? Entire cities ending up in complete gridlock because of substitute driver mobster blockades.
January 23, 2011 at 10:08 am
jeff
at the very least the guys who take over your car have no incentive to go anywhere fast.