Beijing to restrict vehicles on road for OlympicsXinhuaUpdated: 2008-06-20 14:51BEIJING — Beijing is to ban vehicles with even and odd-numbered license plates on alternate days from July 20 to Sept. 20 to help improve air quality for the Olympic Games, the city has announced.Exceptions to the restrictions will include taxis, buses and emergency vehicles, said a statement on the website (www.bjjtwgov.cn) of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications. The statement said the intention of the restrictions was to improve traffic flows and air quality during the Olympics and Paralympics, and to fulfill Beijing’s commitment to host a “green Olympics”.In the statement, the municipal government said the measure would be enforced throughout the city until August 28, but only in areas within the Fifth Ring Road and three freeways connecting downtown Beijing to the airport, Badaling and Chengde from August 28 to Sep. 20.The municipal government is also to ban all motor vehicles that fail to meet the European No.1 standard for exhaust emissions as well as trucks registered outside Beijing without special permits from July 1.It is believed the temporary traffic controls will leave 70 percent of cars owned by government departments and institutions in the city in the garage.To compensate motorists for the restrictions, all vehicle owners will be exempted from taxes and road maintenance fees for three months, costing the government 1.3 billion yuan (186 million U.S. dollars).During a test of the controls from August 17 to 20 last year, about 1.3 million vehicles were taken off the city roads each day and the emissions discharged were cut by 5,815 tons, according to a report by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Quality lodgings in Beijing during the August Olympic Games may become a hot commodity.  Yet an AmCham-China member company tells us they have a number of rooms available during that time at a 5-star hotel with excellent facilities and grounds.  The hotel, the Loong Palace Hotel & Resort (www.loongpalace.com), is located about 15 minutes from the Olympic Park.  Rooms are available at a variety of prices and types, including standard, one- and two-bedroom duplexes and suites. Block bookings from August 7 to August 25 are preferred.

If you or your company are interested, please contact Michelle for details, prices, exact availability, etc.  Reach her via email at michelle0711@gmail.com

A Reuters report concerning this morning’s kick-off of Phase 3 Olympics tickets sales for residents of China (including foreign residents):

Snags, again, for China ticket sale

BEIJING, May 5 (Reuters) - Ticket sales for the Beijing Olympics again ran into problems on Monday, despite guarantees that the online system had been repaired after an earlier foul-up led to the dismissal of the ticket centre’s director last year. A total of 1.38 million tickets were to be released in the third round of ticket sales that began on Monday for 16 sports, including boxing, soccer, baseball, beach volleyball and wrestling. But online chat files and blog comments showed that ticket buyers were having problems completing purchases.

While people were able to log on to the Web site and select tickets fairly easily, they could not reach the final payment page.

A message reading, “The system is under maintenance. Please visit the page later” appeared on the screen. And the website kept directing users back to the login page, and finally showed a message apologising for not being able to process the purchase.

“It’s just frustrating and a waste of time,” said one person who tried numerous times to buy tickets before giving up.

Officials at the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games had no immediate comment.

State television showed footage of people queueing at a Bank of China branch, an alternative way of buying tickets, hours before the sale actually started.

“We got up at around 5 in the morning,” China Central Television quoted an elderly man as saying. Tickets for “hot” events such as basketball had already sold out, it said.

The former director of the Beijing Olympic Ticketing Centre was sacked in November after the online system collapsed due to overwhelming demand almost immediately after the second round of sales began.

In the first three hours of the October sale, the site received 20 million hits, BOCOG had said. As a result of the system crash, only 43,000 of the 1.85 million tickets reserved for the second round were allocated.

BOCOG had promised there would be no repeat of problems that had marred previous ticket sales.

Two-thirds of the seven million tickets available to the public have been sold.

Last month, organisers unveiled for the first time the design for the tickets, which have many high-tech features to prevent fraud and copying. (Reporting by Guo Shipeng and Ken Wills; Editing by Nick Macfie)

The embassy has issued a travel alert for all US residents and visitors in China. The e-mail, sent out to people on the amcitbeijing@state.gov e-mail list, cautions Americans about the threat of terrorist activity by unspecified groups. From the e-mail:

There is a heightened risk that extremist groups will conduct terrorist acts within China in the near future. In light of these security concerns, citizens traveling in China are advised to use caution and to be alert to their surroundings at all times, including at hotels, in restaurants, on public transportation and where there are demonstrations and other large-scale public gatherings. Consistent with our standard advice, American citizens are urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations.

For those who have been in other cities during the Olympics, is this kind of warning standard or is does there appear to be a different approach by the State Dept. to security this year?

There’s more information about travel safety and specifics about the 2008 summer Games on the State Dept. website.

This morning BOCOG announced the specifics of the third phase of their Olympics ticketing program. For those who won tickets during the first ticketing phase, you will be able to pick up your tickets in June or early July. Olympics tickets are being printed now!

BOCOG Press Conference Excerpts:

Starting from 9am, May 5 to June 9, 2008, BOCOG will launch the Phase Three Domestic Olympic Ticket Sales Program.

During this period, the public can buy tickets of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at designated Bank of China (BOC) ticket outlets or by logging on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The number of the ticket outlets during this stage will be fewer than that offered during the previous two phases.

For further details, please log on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games or call the Olympic ticketing call centre at 952008.

Similar to the first two phases, only applications from individual buyers will be accepted during the third phase of the Program Group applications will therefore be considered ineligible. Applicants will use their valid ID cards for registration purposes (further details are available at the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games).

The purchase limit is two sessions per application and three tickets per session.

According to BOCOG, a total of 1.38 million Olympic tickets will be released during the 3rd phase.

The Chinese government earlier this week outlined its remaining plans to clear the air for the summer Games.  The International Herald Tribune reports on the details.

The measures announced Monday include a two-month halt in construction, beginning July 20, and government directives that will force coal-burning power plants to reduce their emissions by 30 percent throughout most of the summer. Officials said that 19 heavy-polluting enterprises, including steel mills, coke plants and refineries, would be either temporarily mothballed or forced to reduce production. Gas stations that do not meet environmental standards will closed, as will all cement production, and the use toxic solvents outdoors will be forbidden.
Read the whole article.

The article goes on to quote Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau urging reporters to “just tell everybody they don’t have to worry.”

While it has not received extensive media coverage, the below announcement via Xinhua is an important one. Please keep checking AmCham Daily for other relevant Olympics transportation and logistical updates.

Beijing subways will try to run round-the-clock on the opening and closing days of the Olympic Games.

The move was aimed at relieving heavy traffic on the two days, Aug. 8 and Aug. 24, while the operating hours would be extended on other days of the Games, Tuesday’s Beijing Daily quoted an official with the Beijing metro operation company as saying, without giving further details.

The subway is expected to carry the bulk of passengers to the National Stadium, also known as the “bird’s nest”, on the opening day when about 100,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony, he said.

The No. 10 route linking the stadium with the downtown area was expected to have intervals between trains shortened from four minutes to three minutes during the ceremonies, said the official.

Subway stations would have “green channels” for ticket holders, Games staff and volunteers, who will be exempted from paying the 2-yuan fare during the Olympics.

According to an article just released by AmCham-China’s news service SinoFile, the first phase of the “wireless city” plan for Beijing will be finished at the end of this month. This project, based on Wi-Fi and WiMAX technology, is for the Olympic Games. Beijing-based CECT-ChinaComm is building the network.  Here’s the original story in Chinese.

The new Beijing airport terminal is set to open this week, and it should be very interesting to see what the reviews look like. It is well ahead of schedule and is the latest in a string of pre-Olympics openings that has included the Water Cube, Line 5 subway and the new National Theater.

Here’s what the AP had to say about the terminal:

The huge, airy interior will have 64 Western and Chinese restaurants, 84 retail shops, and a state-of-the-art-baggage handling system. A high-speed commuter train will whisk passengers into the city, while the runway is capable of handling Airbus‘ huge A380 superjumbo…

China’s capital desperately needed a new terminal even without the Olympics, with double-digit economic growth rapidly outpacing infrastructure expansion plans. [Dong Zhiyi, deputy general manager of the Capital Airport Holding Co] said he expects the whole airport to receive 64 million visitors this year. That is up from 50 million last year and 20 million in 2000.

They have 64 restaurants?! Hopefully that doesn’t mean they are preparing for long departure delays…

BOCOG has announced that the winners of Opening and Closing Ceremony tickets in BOCOG’s Phase 1 Olympic Ticket Lottery are now required to submit a photo ID and completed form BEFORE JANUARY 31.

Specific repercussions for failure to submit in time have not specifically been laid out, but as a precaution it would be advisable to comply before the January 31 deadline.

Full details about this policy change can be found here.