Beijing to build "public transport city"

Beijing will transform into a “public transport city” by 2015. In peak hours, the minimum departure interval for subway trains will be shortened to 2 minutes; the waiting time at bus stops will be reduced to 3 to 5 minutes; public transport will account for 45 percent of the journeys in downtown areas. “Beijing’s implementation plan on humanistic, technological and green transport” (from 2009 to 2015) was recently reviewed and approved by the Standing Committee of CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, unveiling the “public transport city”.

Beijing will transform into a “public transport city” by 2015.

Public transport will account for 45 percent of the journeys in downtown areas

According to the plan, from 2009 to 2015, Beijing will construct a new transport system meeting the capital city’s needs for development, by implementing four major projects including rail transit network project.

By then, the public transport will become remarkably more attractive. Public transport will account for 45 percent of the journeys in downtown areas, while over 50 percent of the journeys will be via public transport during the commuting period. Rail transit will undertake around 50 percent of total passenger traffic of public transport, and the average daily passenger flow by rail transit and bus combined will be over 25 million; building a transport circle of “1-1-2” hours means that the average commuting time within the downtown area will be no more than 1 hour, the travel time from the furthest new towns to the Fifth Ring Road will be no more than 1 hour, and the travel time from Beijing to major cities in the Bohai Bay Rim economic region will be less than 2 hours. The total amount of major pollutants emitted by vehicles will be lower than that in 2008.