Around 56 percent of residents in Beijing took the bus and metro when they went out between Nov 3 and 11, when private vehicles were restricted to run every other day for the APEC meeting.

Before the temporary restrictions based on license plates in the capital, only 47 percent of passengers chose public transportation – bus and metro - the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said on Wednesday. The daily volume of passengers taking buses and the metro has grown by 1.64 million.

Also, more than 16 million passengers traveled by bus each day from Nov 3 to 6, hitting the largest record of daily passenger volume ever in 2014.

Thanks to the restrictions on private vehicles, traffic jams during the rush hours in Beijing have been greatly alleviated; with the index demonstrating congestion was lowered by 70 percent from Nov 3 to 11.

In addition, smooth road traffic helped 96 percent of buses follow schedules and arrive at stations on time, the municipal commission said.