Long-awaited traffic plans to unravel Beijing's gridlocked roads and cut choking smog for the Olympics were revealed by transport and environment chiefs yesterday.
As predicted, the capital's 3.3 million car owners will be subjected to odd-even traffic restrictions for two months from July 20 to help ease congestion and reduce pollution during the Olympics and Paralympics.
'From July 20 to September 20, if the last number of your registration is odd, you can only drive on odd dates,' Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, said.
Public servants will lead by example with 70 per cent of government cars among the affected vehicles.
Mr Zhou predicted that 45 per cent of the city's estimated 3.29 million cars would be off the road during the 62-day period, reducing emissions by 63 per cent, with the worst 300,000 polluting vehicles heavily targeted through a yellow tag scheme that starts on July 1, which bans them from daytime streets.
By way of compensation for the inconvenience, drivers will be exempted during the period from road and vehicle taxes, which will cost the city's coffers about 1.3 billion yuan (HK$1.47 billion).
