Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 7 – Traffic jams have now become a common problem in many cities across China. Many people consistently urge to develop China’s public transportation system ahead of all other transportation systems. Experts estimate that over the next five years, Chinese bus rapid transit system (BRT) will extend to 300-500 kilometers in total length, which will carry 3-4 million passengers every day.

 

In large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, public transportation situation has worsened in recent years, due to the large urban population and numerous vehicles in these cities. In light of this, the task of improving the public transportation system in large cities has been included in China’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan for Social and Economic Development, as part of an important strategy to solve traffic congestion in big cities, to realize the goal of building resource conservation cities and promoting a harmonious society.

 

Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan stated that promoting BRT in large cities can help better utilize transport resources and solve traffic congestion problem. The measure is in line with Chinese national situation. It is against this background that the BRT system has gained rapid progress in Chinese large cities in recent years.

 

At the end of 2005, the No.1 BRT transportation system was put into operation in Beijing, signifying that BRT system was in place in China. Several months later, Hangzhou became the second city in China that adopted the BRT system. So far, the BRT system is either being planned or entering the pre-construction stage in various other cities, including Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang, Xi’an, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Nanjing, Fuzhou and Ningbo.