Cities across China encouraged residents to leave their cars in the garage on Tuesday 22 September as part of the global car-free day. Some of the schemes were more ambitious than others.

In 2007 Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, was the first city in China to hold monthly no-car days but the policy was suspended in 2008 due to the renovation of the city’s second ring road.

Kunming’s no-car days prohibited private cars from being driven within within the first ring road – and sometimes up to the second ring road – on the last Saturday of each month. The ban earlier this week was the first to be held on a weekday. Between 8:00am and 8:00pm, buses and taxis were the only motorised vehicles allowed inside the city’s first ring road.

According to local media, Kunming has one of the highest car ownership rates and some of the worst traffic among Chinese cities.

By contrast, Shanghai’s car-free day scheme was much more modest. Despite earlier reports indicating that the ban would cover 5 sq km over a 12-hour period, it actually only applied to a section of Nanjing Road West between Shimen Er Road and Huashan Road between 8:00am and 10:30am.