Transport initiatives in place to ease congestion at Nanjing Youth Olympics

NANJING, China - As the 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are ready to open on Saturday in Nanjing, China, traffic concerns are among the top priorities and many measures have been put in place, said the transport and security spokesperson for the Nanjing traffic management bureau Mao Hanqi.

Mao expressed his hope at a press briefing on Wednesday that with at least two million registered vehicles on the roads in Nanjing, another 500 buses should not make a dent in the system during the Youth Olympics which runs from August 16-28.

Mao said that many measures had been put into place to insure that athletes, officials, spectators and journalists get to their venues on time and that the extra demands on the system would be minimal.

These measures include a car sharing programme which includes volunteering to give up your car for the Games, and a low carbon commitment in the hope that people will walk, ride a bike or take public transport instead of using their cars.

As an extra measure, people are getting the day of the opening and closing ceremonies off work to guarantee the smooth flow of traffic. Citizens who live near venues have also been mailed leaflets explaining the traffic controls that will be imposed during the Games.

These initiatives are will needed too. The 500 extra buses on the road do not include pool vehicle services (PVS), YOG official cars or any other vehicles related to the Games.

There will only be five extra dedicated YOG lanes around the city as Olympic vehicles will be able to use 12 local bus lanes that are already in use.

But if a person is still concerned about getting to a venue on time, Mao had even more suggestions.

He said: "If you run into a special situation and you have to get to a venue, you can raise a request with the traffic police in the nearby area or talk to the volunteers who will then try to come up with a solution for you so that you will be able to arrive at your venue on time."