Beijing has registered 4,001,426 vehicles and 5,679,000 drivers, the publicity office of the municipal government said Friday.

The numbers of vehicles and drivers jumped 497,000 and 536,000 respectively from that of last year, it said.

Beijing will continue its efforts to encourage people to travel by less polluting means such as taking the public transport system, it said.

More than 4.8 billion people have traveled via public transportation this year, about 13.6 million passengers per day, up 11.1 percent from that of last year, according to the Beijing Public Transport Group.

However, the rapid increase in the number of vehicles did not deteriorate Beijing's air quality, Du Shaozhong, vice director with the municipal bureau of environment protection, told Xinhua.

Du attributed the result to the city's continued efforts in waste control, including raising waste discharge standards, improving fuel quality, eliminating polluting vehicles and strengthening supervision and examination of those in service.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2009)