Beijing subway lines set records on passenger transportation

(BEIJING, August 13) -- The entire Beijing subway system transported 4.1 million passengers on August 12. This number includes 710,000 passengers who traveled via line 5 and 550,000 passengers who took line 10, setting records on passenger transportation on that day, said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications at a press conference held on August 13.

According to Zhou, Beijing's road traffic, including traffic around Olympic venues, have been normal since August 9.

After Beijing implemented the rule enforcing alternate driving days based on license plate numbers to ease traffic congestion, the traffic situation has improved significantly. The current focus of traffic management remains to guarantee smooth Games-time traffic, especially after competitive matches are over in the evenings.

As such, Beijing's traffic management department has made careful arrangements for public transportation to be readily available according to competition schedules. For example, subway lines will be operating until 1:00 a.m. in order to help transport audience members who watch night matches.