A new system in Paris tries to encourage people to use bicycles, both as a means to encourage exercise for city people and to ease pollution and congestion. They have installed bike depots at points around the capital that with the swipe of a credit card can be leased for a day and deposited securely elsewhere. A similar system operates in various British cities, except that no credit card is needed, just a tool to break off the lock, and the "borrowed" bikes are seldom seen again.

I suggest that if people object to the Beijing policy of reducing traffic, it will be because of businesses suffering: the average delivery person, say, or construction workers who need their vehicles for work. The point in such schemes should be for us to question what constitutes a necessary journey in a car. If tradesmen really need to use their vehicles, then perhaps permits can be bought on a monthly basis for the banned days. In other countries, car sharing for same journeys is becoming common, with companies rewarding staff practicing the concept. Similar schemes would become popular here, I'm sure.

All in all, something needs to be done about the energy crisis, pollution and traffic, and this policy goes some way to alleviating those problems. It's clear to me that the lowering in noise and air pollution particularly would be welcomed by Chinese residents, so the humble bicycle repair man in the street will not be the only person grateful to see the law enforced beyond the Olympics duration.

The author is British and lives and works in Beijing