The Pudong New Area government is planning to build streetcar lines in Zhangjiang, Lujiazui and Sanlin areas, officials revealed yesterday.

The Pudong Construction Bureau has entrusted Tongji University to design the streetcar routes. The detailed scheme is still being studied, officials said.

"It is probable that the project will first be tried in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park because Zhangjiang has few vehicles and the public transportation isn't very convenient," said Zhang Yalin from the bureau. "Besides, the environmentally friendly, energy saving streetcars are more suitable to the high-tech park."

The streetcars will be more advanced than those currently used in downtown.

"No electric wires need to be set up to transmit electricity now. The electricity can go through tram rails that are laid on the road," Zhang said. "Streetcars can also transport more passengers than common buses and the rails won't affect other vehicles."

He said the streetcars can handle up to 10,000 passengers an hour, about twice the capacity of common buses.

City officials will soon travel to Dalian in Liaoning Province to look at a new streetcar system that has been introduced there.

Xu Daofang, a local traffic expert, said he fully supports the use of streetcars in the city as they are more comfortable and safer than buses.

"It's especially suitable to develop streetcars in Pudong since it has broad roads," Xu said.

He noted, however, that streetcars call for a large up-front investment as rails need to be laid and transformer substations must be built.

The Pudong government will also install global positioning systems in 3,300 buses this year.

Bus stops will be set up every 300 meters around residential areas that cover more than 50,000 square meters.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )