Beijing strives to solve traffic problems

Creation date: 16 June 2009

The Beijing Municipal Traffic Committee informed recently that the Beijing municipal government will invest 80 billion Yuan this year on transportation infrastructure construction; increasing greatly the ratio of railway transportation investment. Beijing government committed to create a more efficient and convenient green transport environment for citizens. A fast commuter system is under construction and new generation buses will focus more on energy saving and environmental protection.

Fast development period of railway construction

With a continuous increase in the number of motor vehicles, Beijing is facing severe traffic congestion pressure. "Although roads are wider now, traffic jams are still very common at peak hours everyday.", says Yuan, a Beijing taxi driver.

In order to alleviate traffic pressure, in recent years Beijing has entered a period of rapid development of railway construction. Among the key municipal transportation construction projects in the first four months of this year, railway construction accounted for 80 % of the 14.26 billion Yuan used. It also accounted for 25.6% of 2009 proposed investment scheme, increasing 321.2% year on year.

It was reported that there is a total eight railway lines in Beijing now. By the end of 2008, Beijing had built six new lines. At the end of March this year, Beijing started to build three railway transportation Lines: Fangshan line, line 15 and Changping line. The western suburbs line will be launched in June while line 7 and line 14 are expected to begin construction before the end of the year. There will be 13 subway lines under construction in Beijing at the same time at the end of this year.

With the increasing effect of subways easing traffic pressure, Beijing urban planning bureau decided to strive to open a new route each year from now until 2015. It is estimated that the total mileage of Beijing subway will increase to 300 kilometers in 2010 and 561 kilometers in 2015.

Rapid development of underground transportation

Before 2007, Beijing Subway line network was not developed. There was only line 1, line 2, line 13 and Batong Line in operation. With the opening of line 5, line 10, the airport fast-track and the Olympic branch line, the Beijing Mass Transit formed an underground network that stretched across east-west and north-south.

Promotional fares, as well as safe, reliable, efficient and convenient subway operation have changed the way many people travel, attracting more passengers to use the Mass Transit railway.

Mrs. Xiao, who lives in South Water Bridge works at Hepingli, said that traveling by private car still took her at least one hour from home to work because of traffic jams. Now, thanks to the direct railway line 5, she is able to arrive at her office in less than half and hour.

The opening of the new subway line brought a lot of convenience to tourists. Before, arriving at Beijing, many passengers would generally take a taxi to their destination in downtown Beijing. Today, as soon as people get off the plane, they can take the Airport Express Line, going directly to various tourist attractions through the extensive network of subway lines.

Continuous update of ground transportation system

Under the various initiatives of "transit priority", Beijing's ground transportation system has been quickly updated: application of electronic service inside cars, continuous expansion of transport exclusive lanes, and increasingly convenient commuter systems for citizens.

The travel mode of "walk, bike + subway" will be reflected in the new railway design plan, trying to arrange residential sites within 500 to 1000 meters of stations; set up walking paths and bike lanes to provide residents with safe, direct and convenient public facilities.

In addition, environmental protection and energy saving became a new trend in Beijing transportation construction. Before the opening of the Olympic Games, Beijing's official environmental protection buses were put into operation. These environmentally-friendly buses all employed centralized lubrication systems to reduce brake noise and increase comfort.

The emphasis of the 15th stage of the implementation of air pollution control measures is to wash out cars with yellow brands, expand application scales of new energy cars and support the set up of "green car teams". The number of new environmental friendly buses has been updated to 412. At the same time, 344 enterprises have applied to join "green car teams"; and the total number of cars with green brands has now reached 8217.

Source: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6679633.html