BEIJING - Two bus rapid transit (BRT) routes began operation here Thursday, one of which linked the city's downtown area with  Olympic venues.

With the two new routes, the city now has three routes of BRT, a public transport system that carries more passengers, runs faster than ordinary buses and cost less than rail systems.

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The BRT Line 2 links the city's downtown to the eastern suburb, Tongzhou district, while the Line 3 connects the downtown with the northern suburb, Changping district, and passes the Bird's Nest, Water Cube and Olympic Media Village.

And Line 1, linking the downtown with the southern suburb, started operation in December 2005.

Buses running along the BRT lines are much larger than ordinary buses. Each of them can carry 220 passengers, about 3.9 times more than ordinary ones, according to the Beijing Public Transport Holdings. Ltd. (BPTH)

It costs the same as ordinary buses, 1 yuan (14 cents) per person and 0.4 yuan if using a bus smart card.

The new BRT routes will operate from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. There is one bus every one to two minutes in rush hours and every three to four minutes in other hours.

The bus company expected that the two new routes would handle 50,000 to 60,000 passengers daily each.

According to the city government, Beijing planned to start six BRT routes to ease mounting traffic congestion between the downtown and suburbs during rush hours when more and more residents moved to live in suburbs.