Rush-hour traffic jams often turn major roads in big cities into parking lots, Qiu told the meeting.

In downtown Beijing, 60 percent of the 183 major intersections suffer serious jam-ups, Qiu said.

China's capital has 2.82 million cars on its streets, and the number of new ones is increasing by 1,000 a day, cutting vehicle speeds to about half of what they were 10 years ago. Across China, a city bus commute takes 10 minutes longer than it did a decade ago, and that's why 70 percent of urban residents are dissatisfied with bus services, according to Qiu.

Traffic jams cost the country about 250 billion yuan (US$31.65 billion) in lost productivity in 2003, or two percent of that year's gross domestic product, the official said.

Qiu urged city governments to improve public transport efficiency, give priority to buses, shorten transfer time between buses and invest more funds into the public transport system.

Fewer than 10 percent of city residents use public transport across the country on average, he said.

In large cities the figure is about 20 percent, compared with 40 to 60 percent in major metropolitan areas in Europe, Japan and South America.

1

2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)