Fifteen-year-old Liu Bin dragged himself out of bed ten minutes
earlier this week to walk to school rather than being taken in his
father's car.
"The vehicles in a long queue in front of our school gate
pollute the air, threatening our health," Liu, a student at the
Yali Middle School in Changsha, capital city of central China's
Hunan Province, said.
Liu was among the 900,000 students in the city encouraged to
walk to school in the city's Public Transport Week from September
16 to 22.
The move was not only aimed at encouraging students to choose a
more environmentally-friendly mode of transport, but having them
influence their parents to reduce the use of private cars. Teachers
were also encouraged to leave behind their cars to be "role models
for students", according to a circular from the Changsha education
bureau.
Like Changsha, 107 other cities in China nationwide were
involved in the campaign with the theme of "Green Transport and
Health" to ease traffic congestion in the cities and pollution
caused by an increasing number of cars on the road.
The cities will set one or more zones which are open only to
pedestrians, cyclists, taxis and buses between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on
September 22.
In southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, citizens have been
called on to "walk quickly one kilometer a day" by the sports
bureau.
"Walking is a kind of simple and safe sport which helps prevent
epidemics," said Zhang Xin, vice director of the bureau, who came
up with the ingenious suggestion of naming the first weekday of the
annual Public Transport Week "Walking Day" to relieve people's
reliance on vehicles.
In Changchun, capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province,
citizens who had used IC card when taking buses on September 16
could enter a prize draw.
Mi Zenglin was delighted to win a computer. "I will ask more people
to join me in taking buses," he said.
The number of IC card users in Changchun stands at 800,000 out
of the city's 7.13 million people. "I hope more people will choose
public transportation," said Cui Shusen, CEO of Changchun public
transport group.
In Beijing, 176 kilometers of public transportation lanes have
been put into use, which shall be lengthened to 250 kilometers by
the end of this year, bringing the average speed of buses from 14
kilometers per hour to 20 kilometers during rush hour.
Twenty-three new bus lines have gone into service this week,
said Yao Zhenping, assistant general manager of the Beijing public
transportation group.
In many cities government officials joined citizens to take
buses to work.
On the crowded bus No. 211, Chen Xiangqun, mayor of Nanning,
capital city of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,
listened to complaints of passengers and vowed to improve public
transport.
In the commercial hub of Shanghai, Wu Yi, vice director of the
Shanghai urban transport bureau not only took buses but assessed
drivers and conductors.
"The experience of taking public transport can help us improve
the policies," he said.
Chen Xiaohong, vice head of the transport department of the Tongji
University, shared his view. "Traffic is closely related to the
lives of everybody," he said, "policy-makers should try to meet the
real needs of residents."
However, Guangzhou, city with a population of more than ten
million people and one million cars, rejected Public Transportation
Week.
"Limiting the use of cars is not practical in the city," said an
unnamed official with the municipal government.
Miss Chen, a resident of Guangzhou, said the campaign was more
like a good wish. "We can leave our cars behind for one or two
days," she said, "but to change people's ideas needs more efforts
from the government."
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2007)
