China to tackle traffic woes by expanding public transport network: official
- Source: Caijing.com.cn
- [09:39 December 24 2010]
- Comments
China vows to vigorously expand the public transportation network to address the traffic woes that plaguing Beijing and other big Chinese cities.
The key to tackle the traffic woes in many Chinese cities, especially in the capital Beijing, is to vigorously expand public transportation network and increase investment in infrastructure construction while encouraging low-carbon travel, a spokesman with the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday.
When tackling the clogged streets, the first principle to observe is "public transportation first," He Jianzhong said. That includes the current traffic network adjustment of buses, rail transportation and taxies, with rail transportation the most important, He added.
The other is that the government should invest more in infrastructure construction. Plainly speaking, the government should build more roads and increasing the number of public vehicles.
Compared with the 60 percent of reliance on public transportation in big cities of develop countries, the proportion currently is 30 percent in big Chinese cities, according to He.
Take Japan for example. The country has nearly 10 million of family-owned cars, but it doesn't have the same problem as Beijing has. One of the reasons is that only a few of them go to/off work by family cars.
At the same time, He stressed the importance of low-carbon concept in curbing the increasing severe traffic congestion.
The government has been introducing a string of measure to tackle this problem, including fees for drivers to use certain congested roads and restrict the approval of licenses.
He also said a new policy is likely to be disclosed this year in Beijing, setting examples for other cities.
