Most Beijing residents support traffic control measures to
guarantee better air quality and traffic flows during the Olympics
next summer, according to the results of a new survey.
The results, released yesterday, found that 89 percent of
participants agreed that it is necessary to control the number of
vehicles on the road before and during the Games to improve air
quality.
Ninety-two percent of the respondents agreed that enhanced
traffic management measures are needed to ease congestion before
the Games.
Beijing Social Facts and Public Opinion Survey Center conducted
the survey.
More than 1,000 Beijing residents aged 15 to 70 and of various
professions were questioned in telephone interviews.
Beijing conducted traffic trials from Friday through Monday to
test the Olympic host city's ability to improve air quality and
ease traffic congestion.
Only vehicles with license plates ending in odd numbers were
allowed access to key roads on selected days, and those with even
numbers were allowed on the roads on other days.
About 1.3 million vehicles - nearly half of the 3 million in the
city - were ordered off the roads during each of the four testing
days, police said.
Traffic conditions "greatly improved" during the four-day trial
as millions of car owners took cabs, buses and subways or rode
bikes, Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of the Beijing Transportation
Committee, said.
Buses and bicycles became a top alternative for those who
usually drive.
"The road had less traffic jams, but the buses were more
crowded," Huang Xiaodi, an IT company employee in Haidian District,
said.
"Offices should set different working timetables during the
traffic control period to avoid rush-hour congestion," Huang
said.
That idea was echoed by more than 74 percent of the survey
respondents.
Roughly 77 percent of the respondents said they believed the air
quality improved during the trial.
(China Daily August 24, 2007)