Press conference: Beijing Olympics Transport Services

CCTV

I have a question for Ms. Wang. After you adopted the provisional measures on the 2nd and 4th ring, there are only 2 lanes, and one of them is the Olympic lane, so there are traffic on the other lane. On the second ring there is also an Olympic lane, causing much traffic jams. We know that all these roads linked to Chang'an Avenue. And it is said to be for the purpose of the Olympic landscape for the tourists. As you know, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube are very attractive, so can you guarantee that all these traffic control measures can be adjusted so that Beijing public can come out and really go to the Games and go to the exhibitions?

Wang Li

First of all, all of these Olympic lanes are according to the usual practices and rules, and they are among the commitments that Beijing made for bidding the Games. I already told you that we adopted all the measures regarding the management control and we also trained our drivers and police to make the required adjustment. Now we can see that on peak hours or rush hours, there are 10,000 moves of cars on the road. From the common situation, we see that since July 20, we see on some lanes, there are traffic jams. But they are not mainly caused by the Olympic lanes. There are fewer cars on the road, but they have higher speed than before. That is why in the short term, we don't have future measures. I think in the coming days we are going to see more cars, and steady speed, and by doing so, we can reduce car accident because sometimes if you have less cars on the road, they will speed up, which cause the car accident. So I hope that I have answered your question.

Reuters

It took me an hour to get here from Jianguomen because the traffic is so bad on the 4th Ring Road. You are telling us the traffic is improving. Can you guarantee 100% that during the Olympics there will be no traffic jams anywhere in Beijing? Thank you.

Wang Li

I can't guarantee because nobody can say 100%. We are not 100% confident. There are other elements that need to be taken into account. There are not only the cars to cause the traffic. For example, in raining days, there is water that needs to be drained. So I can't 100% guarantee that there won't be any traffic jams. What I can guarantee is that athletes can get to their destinations on time. So any eventuality, we have back up roads. So after all the efforts being made, we can guarantee the reliable transportation for departure and arrival, traffic during the Games and traffic for the Beijing public, Beijing citizens can have very convenient transport situation.

World Journal

My question goes to Mr. Du. You showed a lot of professional numbers and all the indications show that the pollution level reduced dramatically. But I watched the USA training site in Beijing Normal University last weekend. The players have a lot of questions about that.

Because from our visual sight, we can see very smoggy day, especially yesterday and the day before. How can you show them that there are no pollution, there are just water moisture or some other particles? So could you specify, how can I not trust my visual image and to see the pollution was dramatically reduced. I was here to report in July of 2007 based on my own information, I don't have professional data, but I still believe there is some kind of very strong pollution. So you know, that is my question, basically, thank you.

Du Shaozhong

In MPC, we already have 2 consecutive days to talk about air quality control. And I said on several occasions that even here in MPC, visuals can not reflect reality. They are not accurate. If you want to have accurate information and data, you need high technology. Of course your feeling is also very important. For example, yesterday I feel bad, today I feel better. I hope that everyday I feel better and even better. Because you see today it is cloudy. When it is cloudy, of course we can't do much. As for this grey color, the grey smokes you described, I think we can't mix everything together. I demonstrated, I gave figures, and we made fully preparations and all the efforts to prepare a sound environment. When people are friendly, they want to listen to us. For people who don't want to listen to us, they jumped into the conclusion. When we give the conclusions, a few people can not understand them. Partially it is because of the lack of experience and personal background. And secondly, we often see the confusion of different concepts. I want to clarify three concepts today. No.1, blue sky. People working in environmental industry never use such a term. I guess it applies everywhere in the world but we don't use blue sky to describe the weather. The reason is it is not scientific. We have to try to understand what blue sky implies and what days are up-to-standard days. I guess blue sky gives people inspiration. In terms of weather, people all want blue skies and white cloud. But that is certainly beyond control. We have cloudy days and sunny days. In any other country, no country can possibly ensure blue skies and white clouds 100%. You have rainy days anywhere in the world. And that is why blue skies are certainly not the same as up-to-standard weather conditions. Therefore, when it comes to weather conditions, you can't rely on visuals.

Secondly, cloudy days do not equal to bad air quality days. For cloudy days and hazy days and foggy days, they do not seem blue. And therefore people certainly have the impression that these days not as good as shiny days. In addition, when it is high temperature, and high humidity, you don't feel good, like yesterday. These are all natural scenes. In Beijing, we have clear distinction among seasons. Today, we entered the second stage of summer, during these stages it is very likely to have humidity and high temperature days and therefore such weather conditions are all natural scenes. They have nothing to do with pollution. I was born in Beijing and have been in Beijing for more than 50 years. I believe the sky in Beijing is just like that. In Beijing we have more cloudy days than sunny days. That is the way it is.

When it comes to what is up-to-standard weather, we based our ideas on the pollutants. If the result is below API 100, the weather is up to standard, which is same as the standard set by WHO (World Health Organization). Therefore, when we are assessing the air quality, we have to base on these scientific criteria. On our part, we will try our very best to provide the optimal weather and make people feel good during the course of the Games.

Radio Australia

I am from Radio Australia. My question is for Mr. Yu. The transport system inside the Olympic community seems to be excellent. But for people traveling to the place outside the Olympic community, it seems that the taxi drivers don't know some of the places, especially the Media Village. For most of the places, they seem to have no idea. And secondly, they seem very reluctant to take foreigners. So there are occasions that we have been waved away or we have seen foreigners getting out of the taxies because the drivers either don't know where they are going or can't understand what they are up to. Does BOCOG have any plans to fix this situation now? At the moment, there is only very limited number of foreigners. But in less than ten days, the number is going to be large. Are you satisfied with the efforts the taxi drivers have put in to learning where the venues are and the names, locations and the ways to get the venues?

Yu Chunquan

Your question is one of the problems reported to us from media lately. In the preparation of Games for each and every venue, as well as the non-competition venues, we have arranged taxi services exclusively catered to the place. That is to say, taxis are licensed to get in the venues and they are allowed to park for a long time in the security parameter.

The measures and policies have been formulated and implemented. In the vicinity of the venues, we have transport operation teams. For each and every team, we have deputy managers who are in charge of public transportation and taxi services around the venues. We gave directions to them for them to provide the transport department with the patterns of traffic, in particular, the traffic involving the media. I hope that in a few days, the traffic situation will be improved. I trust that the traffic will be greatly improved.

Beijing Youth Daily

From where I live to this place, I traveled along the 4th Ring Road, and there was traffic congestion. Ms. Wang said there will be other measures taken to improve the traffic around the venues. What are these measures?

Wang Li

For the next stage, we will provide more direct and personalized traffic information and guidance that will give you advice about how to choose the right routes in the means of transportation. Secondly, in case of emergencies of traffic or traffic congestions, the traffic police will try the very best to evacuate the traffic. We have 3 tiers of traffic evacuation and we will do something in terms of manpower to improve the traffic condition. We will try out best to evacuate traffic situation and we will advice the public to choose the best means of transportation. That is indeed a very common practice taken by past Games host cities.

South China Morning Post

Yesterday I heard the report from China Daily that about 90% of the cars coming off from the road, can you please give us some tangible details on this? Can you tell us that if this case arises, will the public transport network be able to cope? Can you please explain or describe what you have been telling the IOC as during the recent four days on what you planned to do. There are 90% of the cars in Beijing coming off the road, is it true? When will this happen? Will the transport network be able to cope? And what have you been discussing with IOC?

Du Shaozhong

I believe the figure is wrong. There are 2 million cars off the road during the peak time. The vehicles on road are 3.3 million. It certainly not true that 90% of the cars is off the road according to the number of cars.

Yu Chunquan

This gentleman mentioned the overall traffic volume; this is also a matter that the IOC concerns about. A few days ago, on July 20, we started this traffic alteration system. In some subway stations, the traffic volume was so high exceeding the usual traffic volume by 40%. Therefore, the temporary measures were taken to ensure the safety.

During my encounter with IOC, I explained to them that all the measure were for the purpose of ensuring the safety and security of the subway system in Beijing. We have emergency plan if the subway system does not work well. The IOC has shown understanding in this reality. In fact, such an operation is not only for the Olympic Games but has been applied to the city even on other times. During the course of the Games, in terms of the huge traffic volume, the government has improved a lot of resources, including the busses. We have opened some exclusive routes. I am confident that we can indeed satisfy the needs of the media and the public.

AIP

Last night it took me 50 minutes from MPC to Media Village, because the driver got lost. It is supposed to be a 10-20 minute trip. I want to know what training the driver has undertaken and how you can ensure this will not happen again.

Yu Chunquan

We will look into this matter. Overall, the traffic management system has been stable and the operations have received high praise from the media. Indeed, along certain media shuttle routes, the delay of shuttles did happen. We are still 10 days before the opening of the Games, and the traffic management system is still under the initial stage of its operation. I believe the problems, as identified by you, will be solved in a satisfactory way. We will look into the matter afterwards. Thank you.

Bloomberg

I would like to ask Mr. Du: a few days ago, you said that in emergency, you will have stricter measures to meet the air quality standard. Can you explain what are these stricter measures are, and under what condition

Du Shaozhong

We have to focus on the measures because these measures are the key to the air quality. Since the air quality in Beijing is coupled with our season. If we take into account conventional practices and if we still don't have ideal air quality stands, we will take some measures. But these measures will still be the same as those we have taken. It will just be taken to a higher degree or a stricter degree, and it will not go beyond other means.

Reporter from foreign media

I understand China Daily's report was in the context that 90% could be taken out of the road on contingency measures, is there any lady or gentlemen in the podium know if this contingency plan exists? Second question is that next week IOC meeting will be starting in the city and Mr. Yu had cited Olympic Family Hotel as one of the site destinations. Is there any kind of public or BOCOG provided transportation from MPC to the Beijing city center? Thank you

Du Shaozhong

I do not know where the 90% comes from. I would like to discuss with the China Daily how they obtain such a figure.

Yu Chunquan

We do not have any shuttle from the IBC and MPC to the town center. You have to take public transport. Our number 8 route is now running and is very easy to get to the town center. If you change to line 10, you can reach the town center very fast.

AP

This question is for Mr. Du. You mentioned earlier that there will be some emergency measure, can you tell us specifically what those were?

Du Shaozhong

I do not wish to repeat what I just replied. However, if there are emergency measures, we will tell you. "If", I must specify if.

Sun Weide

This is the end of the press conference. Tomorrow, at 11 a.m., we will have the press conference on the topic of Beijing's Heritage Restored and Revitalized.