Extreme patterns speak of climate change - People's Daily Online

Extreme patterns speak of climate change - People's Daily Online: "The number of extreme weather events in China has been increasing since 2000. These include extremely high and low temperatures, rainstorms and typhoons."

The pain of the deadly auto-system

BEIJING (AP) — At least 21 people, including 14 children, have died in a pair of traffic accidents in China, one a pileup of more than 100 cars in foggy weather.

AP

America Is An Embarrassment! It's Good for Americans to Be Embarrassed

D EPPONUMAN America Is An Embarrassment! It's Good for Americans to Be Embarrassed."Americans need to take a good hard look at the third-rate dysfunctional crap shack they have become. They need to look at themselves through the eyes of the rest of the world for a change, and need to start paying the real price for their stupid wasteful bullying practices."

Beijing losing battle against gridlock - The Globe and Mail

  Alexander F. Yuan/AP Photo

Beijing losing battle against gridlock - The Globe and Mail:
"China's capital is losing the battle against traffic gridlock as more families can afford to buy cars — even though the clogged streets means they frequently grind along at little more than a crawl."
...The number of cars in Beijing is now 4.7 million, nearly double the 2.6 million counted in 2005. An average of nearly 2,000 new cars hit the road each day....

Guangzhou experience proves people want free public transport

The Canadian Press: China cancels free public transport for Asian Games after overwhelming response: "BEIJING, China — State media say authorities have cancelled a plan to provide free public transportation in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou less than one week after it came into effect ahead of the Asian Games, saying the massive response had overwhelmed the system.
Guangzhou's government had ordered half of the city's 2.1 million private cars off the streets to improve traffic conditions and air quality for the Nov. 12-27 Asian Games. To discourage private car use, residents were able to take public transportation for free from Nov. 1."

Methane release feedback-loop many times worse than carbon dioxide

There are 50 million additional cars on the road every year. Each one puts more carbon dioxide into the air. This causes the warming which melts the permafrost, which releases the methane, which speeds up the warming. This is a feed-back loop. We need free public transport now.

Shenzhen chosen to pilot City of Public Transport program | Shenzhen Standard

Shenzhen chosen to pilot City of Public Transport program | Shenzhen Standard: "Shenzhen is in the process in building a City of Public Transport that can be compared with international cities in ten years. A city of Public Transport features a comprehensive network that is supported by subway or metro lines, bus routes and non motorized transport."

Here is the proof -- People WANT free transit

China shuts free-ride scheme for Asiad following huge response: "GUANGZHOU, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in south China's Guangzhou, host city of the 2010 Asian Games, Saturday said it will cancel a newly-launched free public transportation service due to the enormous public response, which might pose a security threat to the Asian Games."

Guangzhou - 871,000 cars off the street. How? Free public transport

Last Monday passengers flocked at the Guangzhou Metro taking advantage of the free public transportation that was set for the Asian and Para Games. Guangzhou Metro had 6 million passengers, a 2 million more passengers than the Metro have on an average week day.

read more: ShenzhenStandard

Sichuan Junlian free trial bus ride

Zhang Song told reporters that members of the public hope that the Government continue to implement public transport free of charge, so that people travel faster and more convenient, safe, civilized, and let more people take the existence of security risks leave the vehicle travel habits.

David

Is Free Public Transportation Sustainable? -- Beijing Review

Is Free Public Transportation Sustainable? -- Beijing Review: "Ever wished public transportation was free? Well, if you're in Changning City, central China's Hunan Province, your wish just came true. Starting from July 1 [2008], local residents and visitors enjoy a free ride along the city's three public transportation lines and the government has allocated 7 million yuan ($1 million) to facilitate the initiative.

According to the local media, on the first day of the free public bus service, passenger numbers jumped by over 60 percent."

Free public transport necessary to ease congestion

Sydney, Oct. 22 Xinhua (Xinhua Jiang Yaping) major cities in the face of growing traffic congestion, an Australian expert advice, free public transportation can be taken simultaneously to charge tolls for private cars of measures to alleviate traffic.

University of Sydney, Australia Professor, Institute of Transport and Logistics -- John Stanley issued a report that a city to improve urban public transport there are many solutions to the situation, including in non-peak free and allowing people to use public transport, as well as private car drivers entering the city levied tolls to subsidize public transportation.

Stanley believes that private car drivers to road use fee is imposed urban traffic congestion management an effective approach. It was rush hour should be higher than the non-peak road fee collection.

According to statistics, every major Australian city growth rate of private cars more than population growth. Australia this year because of traffic jams caused economic losses estimated as high as 100 million Australian dollars (about 9.8 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020 this figure will increase to 200 billion Australian fear (about 19.6 billion U.S. dollars).

Translated from original on Xinhuanet by Google Translate

Good reasons for free public transport

Over the past three decades, China has achieved social stability and economic prosperity. More and more people begin to consider the reform of social welfare. It is a growing recognition that people should not pay for the public transportation.

Free public transportation inspires people，especially who have private cars，to convert their customs. With the increasing population, traffic congestion becomes one of the biggest problems that a lot of cities are facing. More attentions are paid on practicing free public transportation by the government. And individuals may try to choose, considering costs in time and gas, free public transportation which covers the entire city. From 2008, a small city with a population of one hundred thousand in the Middle of China, called Changning began to promote the free-public-transportation policy. The number of passenger has increased 5 fold by now according to the data. What’s more, the vehicle flowing rate decreases 10 percent on the main street. Traffic jams thins noticeably.

Meanwhile, free public transportation which changes the transport modes in cities will be in favor of saving limited resources and protecting the environment eventually. Due to the trend of free public transportation, fewer vehicles will be running on the busy road so that less gas will be consumed, less exhaust will be discharged as well as less noise pollution we will suffer.

Lastly, compared with paid public transportation, balancing the gap between the rich and the poor is also an advantage. The cost of using private cars remains to be increased. Like the situation in London, it takes an 8-pound congestion charge for a car to get into the town each time, not to mention the expensive parking fees. Moreover, the fees from the rich can be used to support the free public transportation. However, public finance which is from the taxes should be responsible for most of the expenditure apparently. In addition, ads revenue from the vehicles and bus stations can make up for the expenditure partly. A Free Public Transportation Fund can be created to stimulate the growth of it.

All in all, free public transportation has so many advantages which satisfy the majority. Consequently, both government and individual should support it so that we will live in a more inhabitable environment.

pybmimi on http://bbs.66xue.com/thread-143741-1-1.htm