Two million more cars are expected to take to Beijing's roads by 2012, bringing the number to 5.4 million.

This daunting figure has prompted authorities to find better solutions to ease traffic congestion and pollution.

Beijing is seeing an increase of about 20 percent, or 300,000 new cars a year, Guo Jifu, director of the Beijing municipal transportation development research center, told a conference on Wednesday.

"The new cars will need another 60 sq km of parking space, which equals the total area within the Second Ring Road," Guo said.

In addition, the new vehicles will also burn at least 1.3 billion liters of gas each year.

Beijing is plagued by traffic jams and poor air quality, caused by emissions from the growing number of cars.

"We need to come up with new administrative and legislative measures to restrict new car growth," Guo said.

He said Beijing must introduce more bus-only lanes to encourage more people to use public transport during rush hours.

"Bus-only lanes should also be introduced in areas where there is a heavy flow of commuters to improve the efficiency of public transport," Guo said.

He said more subway lines should also be built until demand is met.

The even/odd license plate number policy adopted during the Beijing Olympics to ease road traffic and pollution, should be reintroduced in central Beijing, Guo said.

"The introduction of fees for the use of certain roads during peak hours must be looked at too," he said.

Data shows that the capital's particulate concentration level declined by a half during the Games due to the suspension of work at construction sites and vehicle restrictions.

Li Xin, another official with the center, said to Beijing plans to ban a total of 357,000 "yellow plate" vehicles from entering the Fifth Ring Road starting from Jan 1 next year to improve the city's air quality.

By October next year, all yellow license plate vehicles, mostly tippers and heavy-duty trucks, will be banned in Beijing, he said.

Trucks in Beijing are issued with green or yellow plates according to their emission levels. Those with yellow plates are banned from entering the city center during the day.

Li said tax exemption policies will be introduced next year to encourage the development of electric vehicles, those using mixed energy and those with lower emissions.

The conference was held by the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

(China Daily October 10, 2008)