A traffic policeman and a volunteer promote traffic safety to a driver in Yangquan. [Photo/Yangquan Evening News]

The city of Yangquan in North China's Shanxi province was recently included in the list of cities that meet the national green travel assessment and evaluation standards.

In recent years, Yangquan has attached great importance to the creation of a green travel city.

Yangquan has strengthened policy guarantees in fiscal, financial, taxation, land, investment, and insurance aspects. It has also combined land spatial planning to provide land use guarantees for green travel infrastructure such as bus terminals and public parking lots. 

The local authority has continuously adjusted and improved the work measures in combination with the Ministry of Transport's policies, such as subsidies for the price of gas for urban buses and subsidies for the operation of new energy buses. 

It has issued a new energy vehicle promotion implementation plan and implemented energy-saving and new energy vehicle government procurement measures, so as to encourage the government, enterprises and institutions to purchase energy-saving and new energy vehicles. 

The city has also integrated the green transportation system with urban planning and construction.

The municipal bureau of transportation has promoted infrastructure construction, improved the road network in urban built-up areas, promoted the construction of pedestrian paths and non-motorized bicycle roads, and advanced the construction of bicycle parking facilities.

Currently, Yangquan has built a green travel service system efficiently with a reasonable layout and by using ecologically-friendly methods. The urban traffic congestion has been reduced, and the quality of public transportation services has improved, with the green travel ratio reaching 71 percent and green travel service satisfaction rate being 82.3 percent.