Chinese Entrepreneurs Offer Traffic Jam Rescue Service

China is increasingly plagued by traffic jams as its infrastructure struggles to keep pace with the growing appetite of the Chinese middle-class for car ownership. But there is a business opportunity in every crisis, as the Chinese saying goes. Innovative entrepreneurs are seeking to earn a quick buck by offering to queue up for drivers stuck in traffic, an AFP report citing China Daily said.

Offered in the central city of Wuhan, this traffic jam rescue service is intended 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”, in the words of company founder Huang Xizhong. A stranded driver who calls for the service is ferried away on motorcycle, while a replacement driver is brought in to sit through the jam and deliver the car to a destination.

While no details on the price of the service, which began last year, were given, the report mentioned a similar service offered in the eastern city of Jinan which costs more than 400 yuan (USD 60, RM 185).

One would think that this service would be popularised in China's car-crowded capital city Beijing, which tied with Mexico City for having the worst traffic jams in the world in 2010 according to an IBM-sponsored study. Except that Beijing bars motorcycles from highways, preventing the flourishing of probably the world's first traffic jam rescue service.