Beijing bans over a million cars to cut air pollution

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BEIJING, Aug 17 (AFP): Beijing banned more than 1.0 million cars from its roads Friday in a test run to improve air quality for the Olympics, easing notorious gridlock although a thick smog still hung over the city.
More than 6,500 traffic police were on duty across the city to ensure car owners observed the ban, while an extra two million more trips were expected to be taken on subways and buses during the day, officials said.
The four-day test is expected to be a prelude for a similar ban to be put in place for the duration of the August 2008 Olympics, as part of a range of measures to temporarily improve air quality for athletes and visitors.
Beijing is one of the world's most polluted cities, and poor air quality, blamed partly on the city's three million cars -- a number growing by 1,200 a day -- has long been a top concern for athletes and officials.
Those worries were exacerbated as a weeks-long smoggy haze that reduced visibility to just a few hundred metres (yards) on occasions marred the build- up to last week's August 8 one-year countdown to the Games.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, in Beijing for the countdown, said then some events could be postponed if pollution was extremely bad, in what would be an unprecedented move to protect athletes' health.
The ban received a mixed reaction from commuters in Beijing Friday morning, with many being forced to jam into crowded subway lines. Others did not believe it would have much of an impact on air quality.
"I cannot believe it is so crowded, two trains have just passed and I just could not squeeze myself on," said businessman Wang Xindong, who normally drives to work but found himself stuck at an inner-city subway station.
"As for the pollution emissions, I don't think taking cars off the road for just four days will have an immediate effect," he said.
With taxis exempt from the ban, cab driver Jia Jinrong was up early Friday and expecting a good day of business. However he was surprised that the traffic had eased only marginally.