22,079 New Cars Registered In Beijing In First 18 Days Of January, 2007 - Xinhua

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BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Beijing registered a record 22,079 new motor vehicles in just the first 18 days of the year, as city planners brace for the number of cars, trucks and busses to speed past three million by May.

"We issued more than 2,400 license plates in a single day," said a spokesman with Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau. He attributed the sharp rise in the number of registered new motor vehicles to a buying spree that usually occurs before Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 18 this year.

There are now 2.88 million motor vehicles in Beijing, including 2.06 million private vehicles. The number of people with drivers licenses now exceeds 4.24 million. It is estimated the number of motor vehicles will top 3.3 million by the time the Beijing Olympic Games are held in 2008.

Chinese experts say that while there are fewer cars in Beijing than in London, Tokyo and Paris and Bangkok, Beijing's drivers use their cars more frequently. "Private car owners in the capital use their cars four times more frequently than private car owners in Tokyo," an expert said, blaming the high use of private cars for road congestion and serious air pollution in Beijing.

EDIT

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/22/content_5638912.htm