Beijing wants to decrease the city’s traffic congestion ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games by building large free or low-cost parking lots beyond the fourth and fifth ring roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways in the downtown area.
Car owners living in the suburbs will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the ring roads and take buses or subways downtown.
The city also plans to readjust its layout by building new city centres in a bid to ease the traffic flow to the downtown.
The city’s current layout, expanded ring roads around the centre of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams.
The downtown area is crowded with three business centres and one financial centre, as well as nearly 400 government agencies and institutions.
