China has launched its first ever "Public Transport Week." The campaign is aimed at easing traffic and improving air quality. It includes a car-free day encouraging people to leave their private cars at home and use public transport.
The campaign has gained much support nationwide. Over 10-thousand people have signed commitment boards, vowing to make their daily trips by public transport.
In Shenyang, the local government is adding more than 3-hundred new buses that meet the Euro Three emissions regulation to its fleet.
Meanwhile, Qingdao showed its strong determination to get residents to stop using their private cars and turn to public transport instead. The government has urged all city officials to take the bus to and from work over the course of the week.
Qingdao resident, said, "Let's reduce air pollution and make the traffic flow!"
Over 100 cities in China have joined the campaign. They have all nominated several busy roads to be non-car zones next Saturday, encouraging more residents to be public transport users.
Residents in Taipei also took a break from using their cars. On Saturday, over 10,000 local residents rode 12 kilometers on their bicycles as part of the city's "car-free carnival".
These newly-weds also took to their bicycles, instead of hiring several luxury cars for their wedding ceremony, they said helping the environment was the perfect way to seal their love.
The French capital Paris was the first city in the world to launched the car-free campaign in 1998. It aimed to boost public transport passenger numbers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Since then, over 2,000 cities around the world have taken part in this annual activity.
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