In an attempt to increase public transportation use in the capital city, Beijing will extend its rail and subway lines and open more express bus lanes in 2010. The end goal is to get 40% of Beijing’s commuters using public transportation this year.. 38.7% of the city’s residents used public transportation as their primary source of commute. The city government has approved a budget of 80 million yuan ($11.7 billion) for the construction of public transport facilities in 2010 alone. The lines will be extended by 140 km this year to 368 km and reach 561 km in 2015. An extra 800,000 vehicles were added to Beijing roads in 2009. The total number hit 4 million.
It appears the city’s plan to increase public transit goes in direct contrast to the country’s strong incentives to encourage the purchase of automobiles. 2009 saw extremely liberal policy incentives, such as subsidies and tax cuts, that helped the Chinese automobile industry grow 52.9% year-over-year with a total of 13.6 million automobiles purchased. As a result of such strong incentives, 2009 was the first year the United States was surpassed as the leading consumer of automobiles. As the Chinese market was skyrocketing, the American market sunk 21% to 10.4 million. Perhaps the incentives drew more attention than desired? I do not have the answer to that. But what I do know, the country of China and the city of Beijing are promoting contradicting policies.