The number of vehicles in Beijing surpassed 2 million on Monday, raising new questions about the capital city's transportation system.

Vehicles crowd a street in downtown Beijing August 4, 2003. The number of registered automobiles in the Chinese capital topped 2 million Monday, including 1.28 million private ones, according to the local automobile administration. The massive amount of vehicles exerts great pressures on the city's traffic system. [Xinhua]

But Shanghai has kept vehicle numbers below 1.4 million through strict controls over private cars.

It took Beijing only six years to go from having 1 million motor vehicles to 2 million, according to Zhang Jingli, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau.

"Out of last year's increase of 276,000 motor vehicles, 90 per cent are private cars. The percentage is 30 points higher than the national figure,'' Zhang said.

The Beijing authorities have expressed concern at the continued increase in the number of motor vehicles.

Zhang predicted that there could be 3.5 million cars in Beijing by 2008 if the current rate of increase continues.

"This will adversely affect the city's transport. Traffic jams will even get worse,'' he said.

The municipal government will adopt various measures to solve the problems of a lack of parking space and traffic jams by charging vehicle owners higher fees, Zhang said.

For example, parking fees were raised last year for vehicles in the city centre.

Zhang also said strict measures will be adopted to reduce the air pollution caused by the large number of vehicles.

A total of 300,000 coaches will be banned from driving on three major streets -- Chang'an, Ping'an and Guang'an avenues -- after next month due to the large amount of gas they emit.

By contrast, the traffic authority in Shanghai -- China's largest city -- issues only 2,000 to 3,000 licence plates per month through public auction, each plate costing more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,420).

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said last month that the city will gradually loosen restrictions on the purchase of private vehicles in the long run but further restrict the use of saloon cars in central areas.

To relieve the traffic pressure, Shanghai is encouraging the development of public transport, to which Beijing has also given priority.

Shanghai has, a population of more than 16 million, with around 1.4 million vehicles. The number of vehicles is expected to top 1.5 million by the end of 2005, according to the Shanghai Planning and Development Commission.

Some experts previously predicted that transport in Beijing would come to a complete standstill once the city had 2 million vehicles.

The Beijing authorities have attributed the current "normal'' traffic conditions to the fast development of road construction and the implementation of the so-called intelligent transport systems (ITS).

The systems are expected to take shape in Beijing by 2007 and enhance efficiency.

ITS facilities already in use in Beijing include the road-traffic monitoring and management system, the intelligent control headquarters for public transport and the intelligent operational control system for taxis, according to sources with the Beijing Transport Development Research Centre.

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