Like the proverb says, when life gives you lemon, make lemonade. Some entrepreneurial Chinese are finding that their country's legendary traffic jam (how bad is t? One was so bad that it lasted for 9 days) actually present unique business opportunities:
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.
Huang said he began offering the service last year after receiving a number of calls from desperate motorists, the report said.
The service is also available in the eastern city of Jinan, where drivers can pay more than 400 yuan ($60) to escape a traffic jam, the report said.