Taking a cue from , China has set aside the week of September 16-22, 2007, as its first public transport week. And on the final day, private car owners will be asked to leave their vehicles at home and ride bikes, use mass transit or walk to work, school and shopping, Qiu Baoxing, deputy minister of construction, told a national meeting in Beijing on Saturday.

If all private cars stayed off the streets for 24 hours, China would save 33 million liters of gasoline, reduce urban pollution 90 percent and prevent an untold number of deaths and injuries from traffic accidents, authorities said.

In addition to Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hangzhou have also promised to join in.

Authorities said compliance by motorists will be voluntary but that some streets in all the cities taking part will be blocked to private cars.

France initiated the no-car day in 1998, and two years later, the European Union's environmental agency kicked off European Mobility Week on September 16-22, which also featured a car-free day. The environmental exercise has since expanded to more than 1,000 cities across Europe.

Qiu said China's program is designed to raise public awareness about the need for greater environmental protection by encouraging urbanites to use less polluting forms of transport.

1

2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)