The last 10-day period of last December witnessed the "Beijing No.1 Speedy Public Transportation' formerly put into operation along the section running 5 kilometers long from the Qianmen (Front Gate) to Muxiyuan (Osmanthus Garden). It is the large volume and speedy public transportation, the first of its kind in China. This has for the first time added a new and bright scenic touch to the axial artery in Beijing in regard of employing the modernized means of public transportation.

On 2 April, we saw an enthusiastic atmosphere in the spacious square in front of the Beijing Convention Center where 9 famous vehicle manufacturing plants and business dealers were busy with their work for entering into the city of Beijing. This year, Beijing is going to purchase by bidding 4000 vehicles for public transportation. The bill of order valuing at RMB 3 billion yuan has hit a record high for vehicle procurement in China. Next year and the year after next will see Beijing renew again 4000 public transportation vehicles with the value to exceed an amount of RMB 2 billion yuan. This is the first time for Beijing to purchase by bidding vehicles for public transportation and the new vehicles are going to be bid in from the 9 enterprises making large-sized buses in the country.

As learned, the renewed buses are mainly used to replace the worn-out diesel-engine buses and the buses "exercising overtime service" namely those buses (already seen over 15 years of service). The 3858 diesel-engine buses Beijing owns at present will all fall into disuse prior to Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Feng Xingfu, deputy general manager of Beijing Public Bus Transportation Group said, "this year will see over 900 buses out of 1800 that have already witnessed 10 years of operation be replaced by new ones and the full replacement will be completed prior to 2008." In view of the outgoing ways for Beijing residents those taking public buses take up 26.3 percent at present and the targeted rate is going to be 45 percent in 2005. Therefore, the measures employed means a big deal for enhancing the outgoing way for the inhabitants in Beijing.

"To be knocked out" if not up to the standard for eco-environmental protection

There are around 16,000 public buses in Beijing. Though in recent years we've witnessed a quick development of light-rail traffic and private cars, yet public buses remain still the way favored by most of the Beijing inhabitants to go out. In 2004, the number of public-bus riders in Beijing came to a total of over 4300 million person/times.

It is because of this that the undergoing bidding for public vehicle renewal and procurement in 2005 has turned out to be more eye-catching. "This time, we'll see 4000 buses be replaced and it is the ever biggest number of bus replacement in Beijing," said Feng Xingfu.

Those public buses joining in for procurement by bidding have all to be up to the Europe Grade 3 tail-gas emission standard, expressed Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of Beijing Transportation Commission. By doing so, he said, this year will see 50 percent of the public buses in Beijing to reach the Europe Grade 3 criterion for tail-gas emission.

According to the plan, all those buses of extra-gas emission are going to be "laid aside" prior to the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. Feng Xingfu said, "a thoroughfare is going to appear for battery-public-transportation in the Olympiad Village in 2008 and Beijing will have a contingent of battery-public-transportation buses."

The employment of buses up to the standard for eco-environmental protection is the orientation for the development of means of public transportation. Among them, those using natural gas will take up the greater part of the public buses. As Ji Lin, vice major of Beijing revealed the other day, by the year of 2008, the number of natural-gas powered public buses will reach 5000 vehicles. He said, as a research indicates, in a year in Beijing about 40 percent of the time is unfavorable for the outspread of the pollutants and if we want to see a sustainable improvement of air quality we have to resort to more drastic measures.

As a working personnel in the trade of public transportation the apt description of what I feel at the exhibition is astonishing and surprising. Yao Zhenping, assistant to general manager of Beijing Public Bus Transportation Group told the reporter. Having taken a look around at all those sample buses the overall feeling is that the new-type buses for the renewal this time can be described like this, it's beyond doubt a leaps-and-bounds progress either in conception, technology or in design as compared to those of the past Mr. Yao Zhenping said, of all the new-type buses they have some superiorities in common, i.e. "suitable for tourists in outward appearance, more reasonable in carriage structure and with more solid chassis". The good looking of a bus doesn't mean "something showy" but practical instead.

To replace what type of buses needs to ask for opinions from among the people

The 7 single-motor-driven buses of 13.7 meters long which have just passed "physical checkup" made their first debut in Beijing Convention Center. They are the outstanding ones that will replace No.345 and No.321 buses this year to go along the expressways. This is the first time for the single-motor-driven buses with two gates to grow bodily larger in Beijing.

Feng Xingfu explained, according to the past regulation, the body-length of a single-motor-driven bus with two gates must not exceed 12 meters but this time the rule-breaking selection of the 13.7 meter-long bus of larger volume is mainly for catering to the needs of higher passenger flows along freeways.

"The outward appearance of the bus can get 20 scores and I have to make a good check of its chassis," a worker at the basic level of the public transportation is working out scores for a brand-new King Long bus.

As introduced, the procurement of conveyances for public transportation by bidding will finally mete out the winner in the bid prior to the "May 1" and sign on the purchase order. The examination and approval group of the bid consists respectively of the following three parts, experts from the city expert committee of the Ministry of Construction, professors from Tsinghua University and other institutes of higher learning and the check and approval group of technological authorities for public transportation in Beijing and other large and medium cities; the examination and approval group of motor-vehicle expertise and the group consisting of representative workers from the public transportation as well. The expert group is going to play the decisive role, taking up 60 percent in the decision-making, the opinion of the motor-vehicle expertise accounting for 25 percent and the rest 15 percent goes to the group of representative workers. Suggestions and opinions from the city residents for the replacement of the buses are also welcome on the spot. The procurement order for the new buses will be officially published after "May 1" and by the end of this year or the Spring Festival next year at the latest the city inhabitants of Beijing can go out on board the new buses.

It must be modernized but not to claim something better by citing a case from others

To go along with the renewal and replacement of the public buses Beijing is planning to construct some 20 more public transportation hubs and in accordance with the plan 2005 will see 8 such transportation hubs to be completed and put into operation at Beijing Zoo, Xizhimen, Dongzhimen and Yimuyuan and some other places.

The total investment for the comprehensive transportation hinge project at Dongzhimen is around RMB 9 billion yuan. This will be a three-dimensional transportation hinge project, the largest and modernized one in Asia in which passengers can easily realize their changes for the 7 means of transportation from the city bus to that for suburbs, to subway, to city light-rail and to freeway for airport and for taxi as well as for pleasure-boat on waterway. And when the passenger transportation hinge project comes to completion at Liuliqiao this is again the first in the country where passengers will be able to realize their three-dimensional changes for the means of transportation of long-distance coaches, public buses, subways and vehicles in society as well.

At all these large-sized public transportation hinges facilities for "car to park for changing over to other means of transportation" at low cost or free of charge will have to be put up in order to encourage people to shift over onto public transportation for entering into the city proper.

In the course of making the public means of transportation eco-environmental and modernized, the broad masses of people are also reminding the government departments concerned that the city public transportation is a public welfare affair with ordinary people as their clients and consumers and the business conducted is for short-distance passenger service. Therefore, attention must be paid to avoiding "claiming something luxurious by citing example from others". They said, "through the renewal of the public means of transportation we have to make the capital city brighter and everything minute cleaner. Nevertheless, if it surpasses the economic development and the consumption level of the residents this is another kind of unrealistic 'higher consumption'. The public means of transportation as a ��card for the city' what we need is not the pomposity and luxury."

By People's Daily Online