Transportation is a major issue in Guangzhou. The rapidly rising number of privately owned automobiles, bicycles, and motorcycles have resulted in severe traffic congestion. The move towards district specialization and the increasing distances between housing and the workplace have strained the existing transportation infrastructure, intended for a Maoist city built around work units. The older city districts have few roads wider than two lanes.

While Guangzhou has the highest ratio of mechanized vehicles to people of any city in China, it is on the low end in terms of per capita road coverage and total road length. Bicycles are preferred to public buses; less than 15% of the population takes public transportation. Guangzhou also has one of the highest motorcycle ownership rates in China. With all of the cars, bicycles, and motorcycles on a very limited amount of road space, traffic circulation in Guangzhou has ground to a halt.

During rush hour, this relatively empty Guangzhou street becomes a circulation nightmare.

In addition, most of the privately owned cars on the road are more than 15 years old, often imports from countries that reported the cars as scrapped. Thus they are old, inefficient, polluting, and fuel-consuming. The lack of parking facilities leads to indiscriminate parking on sidewalks and roads, further blocking traffic.