With 1,110 motor vehicles taking to the capital's roads every
day since January 1, the number of vehicles in Beijing will hit the
three million mark sometime in May, according to an official with
the municipal traffic management bureau.
Bureau director Song Jianguo said that the municipality
currently has 2.925 million motor vehicles, and the number will
reach 3.5 million before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Experts warn that congestion is an increasingly intractable
problem in Beijing, and are talking up the public transit
option.
Beijing will provide subsidies totaling 1.3 billion yuan (about
US$166 million) to bus companies this year, which offer
across-the-board discounts to over nine million commuters.
The measure will give public transit a distinct price advantage,
encourage people to use the public transit system and help ease the
city's traffic gridlock, according to Li Jianguo, deputy director
of the municipal transportation committee.
Beijing has taken the lead in China and imposed Euro-III car
emission standards, but exhaust fumes emitted by its motor
vehicles, including two million private cars, remains one of the
primary sources of pollution in the capital.
About 300,000 heavily-polluting vehicles will be taken off the
city's roads in 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2007)