Traffic congestion to worsen in September

Beijing traffic authorities warned Wednesday that the city may encounter the most serious traffic congestion next month, as the Mid-Autumn Festival and October 1 National Day holidays approach.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport told the Global Times that the start of the new school year, visiting friends and relatives before and during the holidays, and vehicles from places outside Beijing will contribute to major traffic flows on the city's roads in September.

"From our monitoring from 2009 to 2011, September is always the month with the most serious traffic congestion. So we estimate that the traffic situation will not be optimistic this September," said a media officer from the commission Wednesday.

The authorities have planned a series of measures in September to ease traffic tension. Over 90 percent of taxis should be on the road and 95 percent at peak times.　

In addition, 8,000 bicycles will be available for hire at subway stations and scenic spots across the city.

"Beijing subway will implement more flexible management measures, such as shortening train departure intervals," said Jia Peng, spokesman from Beijing Subway.

The commission suggested that government and State-owned enterprises should not organize large-scale conferences and activities in September, and employees could work flexible hours.

However, residents believe the measures cannot solve the city's congestion.　

"More people and vehicles will come to Beijing, so it's hard to ease congestion no matter what measures you take," said a Beijing resident surnamed Zhang.

The government should not only persuade ordinary people to use their cars less, but should set curbs on the use of official cars in September, Zhang noted.

Zhu Tao, an expert on transportation with Beijing University of Technology, said that in cities like Beijing with such high car ownership, traffic congestion is inevitable.　

"The government's measures can alleviate the traffic congestion to some extent anyway for next month, but these cannot solve the root problem," he said.