Beijing: Grappling to ease mounting traffic problems, the Chinese capital is all set to put four subway lines into operation tomorrow as part of the city`s efforts to expand rail transit to ease congestion on the roads.
The new lines bring the number of subway lines in Beijing to 16, with a total length of 442 kilometers, officials here said today.
The city has turned to public transport, especially rail transit lines, to tackle massive traffic jams on the city`s vehicle-clogged roads.
The number of subway lines in Beijing will reach 19 by 2015, with a combined length of 561 km.
By 2020, the total subway length is expected to increase to 1,000 km, official Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing`s public transportation system, including bus services, carried an average of 20.6 million people per day in 2012.
About 44 per cent of Beijing`s residents say they use public transport, the highest percentage of all cities nationwide.
Amid other measures to ease traffic, city authorities started limiting new vehicle registrations to 240,000 each year in 2011, slashing new car registrations by two-thirds from the 2010 level.
Vehicles are also banned from roads one day per week according to plate numbers.
Taxis the other means of transport turned out to be a nightmare as people find it very difficult to find them in peak hours.
The new lines were expected to ease the traffic woes.
PTI
