Vice-mayor of Beijing in Charge of Traffic Management Resigns

The vice-mayor of Beijing who heads traffic management has resigned from this post.

Huang Wei's resignation and appointment as vice-chairman of Xinjiang were approved Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency said -- the same day Beijing announced plans to slash the number of new cars in the city next year.

Wary of Government Caps, Beijing Residents Drive Up Car Sales
More than 20,000 cars were sold in Beijing in the first week of December as citizens scrambled to buy vehicles ahead of curbs aimed at reducing the city's massive traffic jams, state

Huang, who was appointed vice-mayor in 2008, appears to have paid the price for soaring vehicle demand that has seen the number of passenger cars on the streets of Beijing skyrocket nearly 85 percent in the past five years.

The number of registered cars in Beijing stood at 4.8 million on Thursday, with 750,000 new cars hitting the already congested streets this year -- an average of 2,000 every day -- officials said.

That compares with a total of 2.6 million cars in 2005, state media said.

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Daily calisthenics routine has been revived in Beijing, and Liu Tao is only one of the many workers who are expected by authorities to take part.

Beijing's air is among the most polluted in the world and the problem is getting worse amid high demand for private vehicles from its increasingly affluent residents.

The Chinese capital and Mexico City have the worst traffic jams in the world, according to a survey released by IBM in June. The two cities scored 99 out of 100 in IBM's "commuter pain index".

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Residents in Beijing will have to be careful when they dump garbage, as improper dumping of garbage is going to cost very dearly.

Authorities said Thursday they would allow 240,000 passenger cars to be registered in Beijing next year through a licence plate lottery system -- about one-third of the number of new cars registered in the capital this year.

The new rules, which took effect Friday, will see nearly 90 percent of the new licence plates given to residents.

'Super Bus' may Hold the Answer to Beijing Traffic Woes
China's capital Beijing, is always grappling with traffic jams and now all eyes are on the 'Super Bus' to relieve traffic woes.

Expectations that the government was going to restrict the number of new number plates issued next year sparked a surge in sales this month, with more than 20,000 cars sold in the first week of December, state media said.

That was more than double the 9,000 cars sold in the same period last year.

On Thursday night, auto dealers around the city stayed open until midnight so residents could buy a car before the new rules took effect, the China Daily said.

Authorities admitted that the registration cap along with other measures such as higher parking fees in the city centre and stricter enforcement of traffic rules would not automatically ease the severe bottlenecks.

"It will be difficult to dramatically improve the traffic situation in a short time," said Li Shaoming, deputy director of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

"But it can slow down the pace of worsening traffic congestion."

If the current pace of growth in new cars were to be maintained, the city would have seven million by 2015 on a road network that can handle 6.7 million, state media said.

Source-AFP