250,000 drivers to adopt car-free day

In order to lessen congestion and improve air quality, 250,000 drivers have promised not to drive for at least one day during the China-Africa Forum.

Wang Xiaoming of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said that the drivers come from 476 organizations, including 380 drivers' clubs and 28 private and overseas-funded businesses.

On Tuesday, the Beijing Social Security Institute released the results of a survey it conducted which showed that more than 80 percent of Beijing drivers have heard about the "no car day" campaign and 42.3 percent strongly supported the idea.

The survey also showed that half of the drivers who have promised to leave their cars at home will use buses or subways as alternative means of transport during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which will last until Sunday. The Forum will be attended by about 40 African heads of state.

Beijing will also restrict the use of governmental vehicles and shorten school hours to ease traffic congestion, the Beijing Transportation Committee announced. Eighty percent of Beijing Municipal government department cars and half of Beijing's army and central government vehicles will not be used during the forum.

The no-car day plan is a practical rehearsal for how traffic will be arranged during the Beijing Olympics.

To cope with the expected increase need for public transport during this period, bus and subway services would be increased.

The "no-car day" campaign, which was launched in May by 100 drivers' club in Beijing, asks drivers to leave their cars at home for at least one day a month. In Beijing, where the population is 16 million, there are half a million company cars and two million private vehicles on the road.

Beijing has a target of 238 "blue sky days", or days eith fairly good air quality, this year. The local environmental protection bureau said on Wednesday that for the first ten months of the year, there were 203 "blue sky days", a day more than for the same perios last year.