Live report: Promoting green transportation, and building a "footprint city"

Wang Zhongbing, mayor of Zhanjiang holds a live chat themed "Promoting green transportation, and building a ‘footprint city’" with netizens this morning. 

Wang talks with netizens.[Photo from yinsha.com]

The emcee gives a brief introduction to the live chat themed "Promoting green transportation, and building a footprint city."

Wang: Good morning everyone! As we know, traffic congestion has become a major problem in the city. That's why we advocate the construction of a "footprint city".

We hope that people could choose walking and other low-carbon transportations other than cars, and the rate is expected to reach 5%, 10% or even more than 20%. Only when public transportation makes up more than 30% of the city’s transportation, can the city live up to the reputation of being a “footprint city”.

Netizen: What specific measures will the government take in urban planning and improving public transportation?

Wang: We must establish a city that can satisfy the public’s needs, and the city should be transformed in a people-oriented direction. The “footprint city” means putting people and public transportation first.

As the first phase of our bicycle rental program, we have provided 5,000 bikes at 272 spots in the three commercial centers of the city. With the support of the citizens, we have issued about 11,000 renting tickets as of Jan 27. It is estimated that there are 12,000 cyclists using our bicycles every day. But due to the poor publicity and other problems , we are working to improve the program and make the customer experience even better.

To build an eco-friendly city featuring the concepts of footprint, what's important is city planning. Both the new town and old town of Zhanjiang are well preserved, which makes it a charming city. Maintaining vitality as well as history is our concept for city planning.

Have you realized that roads and walking paths are different. As for the city's future development, we will take into consideration two aspects: First, we will carry on with the Transit-Oriented Development mode; Secondly, we will further improve environment surrounding people and facilitiate their daily life in their neighbourhoods.

It’s a good idea to hold a bicycle competition in Leizhou Peninsula as well as a walk marathon . Zhanjiang has plenty of fresh air with low level of PM2.5. Last year, Zhanjiang was among the top 5 cities with the best air quality in China. On  one hand, walking in the open air is healthy; it, on the other hand, encourages and contributes to low-carbon lifestyle. In my opinion, the municipal tourist administration should take the advices.

People, rather than cars, are the masters of the city, which is very important for the establishment of a civilized city. Due to the planning, the number of cars has increased sharply, and drivers drive recklessly. Actually, cars should give way to people.

Wang Zhongbin, mayor of Zhanjiang city, rides public bicycles together with local residents on New Year's Day.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Netizen: We may learn from the Western countries in terms of promoting public transportation.Have we other plans in improving public transportation?

Wang: Transit-oriented development (TOD) will play a very important role in the planning and construction of city’s mass transportation system. It is a team work that involves the service providers, regulators and planners. As a symbol of the city’s development, we have attached great importance to this program by learning from other countries that have done a better job. We will expand the coverage of the transportation system by purchasing more buses. The 600 vehicles we have are far from meeting demands of a city at the scale of 100 square kilometers. Although other cities have a fleet of 2,000, we will take a step-by-step approach by enlarging the fleet to 1000.

As for Zhanjiang, we focus on standardization and guidance; for instance, we pay attention to such things as setting and implementation of the maximum speed, making wearing a helmet obligatory, preventing people from crossing over randomly. There are 400,000 electric bicycles and 400,000 motorcycles in our city, which need our guidance rather than prohibition. When prohibited, people are forced to give up the low-carbon and zero-emission means of transportation, while other people would choose to buy a car.

One of the important objectives of building a "footprint city" is making Zhanjiang a touristic city. I am glad that cycling tours are promoted by the tourism bureau. A city suitable for walking and cycling, that's what a "footprint city" should be like.

We neglected environmental modification before. In my opinion, green architectures created with the effect of environmental modification must be given priority. Now, urban planning includes roads, drainage systems, and purification systems, not only buildings. Therefore, it’s necessary to build green architectures for the city’s sustainable development and improved conditions.

Netizen: What products will Zhanjiang introduce to further promote green means of transportation such as cycling?

Wang: A greenway around the Binhu Lake is under construction, and 2.7 km of the greenway will open to the public by the Chinese Lunar New Year in February. People can expect a 12-km-long greenway around the lake after completion.

Wang:To sum up, I hope all citizens could work together to support the city’s low-carbon green development by using bicycles or walking to your daily destinations. Everybody could be the city’s volunteer guardian as long as we don't spare our efforts to implement and comply with the low-carbon policy. As advocators of the policy, we hope every citizen would support the green development by making our footprints rather than wheel junks around the city. Every city has its own features. As a city with its distinct features, we will make it more appealing by promoting this footprint program. Only when we make ourselves an eco-friendly city through the footprint program, can we rise among other competitive cities across the country. This city will have a much brighter future as long as we push forward both industrial transformation and environmental protection. We will be a splendid city with our own characteristics!