CRI听力: Chinese Capital Continues with Vehicle Restrictions within City Limits

Authorities of the city of Beijing have decided to continue with private vehicle restrictions in an attempt to alleviate traffic jams and ease air pollution.

The measure that was put into trial practice in April last year will now officially ban private cars in the urban areas one work-day a week for the next two years in the Chinese Capital.

CRI"s Tingting reports that while there are those who support the rules, others believe there could still be smarter ways to deal with the problem rather than simply keeping vehicles off the road.

Reporter:

The restrictions on driving started during the Beijing Olympics in summer 2008, when the municipal government prohibited vehicles from driving on different days of the week based on their license plate numbers to improve the air quality. Given its success with this policy, Beijing continued it to see if it could reduce traffic congestion and the resulting pollution.

Li Kunsheng, an official at the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, praises the effects of the driving restrictions.

"Driving restrictions ban 6 million cars from streets every day, which to a large extent has improved traffic conditions in Beijing. Moreover, more than 310 tons of pollution gas was reduced each day, and that means a total of 78,000 tons for the whole year last year."

China is developing quickly along with people's living standards. More than 135,000 cars have flooded onto Beijing's streets over the past year, making traffic conditions worse.

Zhou Zhengyu, Deputy Secretary-general of the Beijing Municipal Government, stresses the necessity of implementing driving restrictions.

"The total volume of cars is surging in Beijing, which is leading to the deterioration of the existing jammed traffic. Driving restrictions are an option to solve this headache."

But the restrictions have provoked heated debates among drivers. Some argue that this countermeasure should be in force only during peak traffic times instead of for the entire day, so that it would not inconvenience people by a large margin. Others hold that the policy may prompt car owners to purchase another vehicle for use on alternate days.

Experts suggest that we should take a two-pronged approach to cope with the capital's traffic problems. On the one hand, they say the city should increase the cost of driving to limit cars from streets. Beijing has already started doing this by increasing parking fees in 13 busy downtown areas, including the central business district.

On the other hand, experts say the city should improve the public transportation system to offer a reliable and sound alternative for people who choose not to drive. Much effort has been made to optimize the current transport system by adding bus lanes exclusive to public transit and building more subway lines.

Tingting, CRI news.