The traffic police bureau of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, announced at a meeting Thursday a series of measures to deal with the chaos at the vehicle administration center in Xili, Nanshan District.

This follows a report in a local Chinese newspaper Wednesday which criticized conditions at the center.

Under the new measures, residents who come to have their new vehicles registered and checked at the center will be given serial numbers to shorten their waiting time at the center and reduce the long lines of cars, said a traffic police officer surnamed Li.

To stop customers from jumping the queues, the passageway for vehicle inspection will be divided into two lanes isolated by fences — one for cars and the other for bigger vehicles.

Also, the No.2 platform at the center will be transformed into a parking lot to ease the traffic pressure caused by vehicles waiting to be inspected, said Li.

The bureau has also promised to ensure that the service counters are manned from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and to replace chairs which are broken.

The chaos at the center was mainly attributed to a lack of police presence as well as poor facilities, said Li.

By the end of 1998, 122 policemen were on duty at the Xili center while the number of locally registered vehicles was 251,656 and the number of licensed drivers 241,467.

However, by the end of September this year, Shenzhen had 810,000 locally registered vehicles and 820,000 licensed drivers, while police posted at the Xili center numbered only 158, according to the bureau.

(Shenzhen Daily October 21, 2005)