Driving schools speeding to keep up with demand

By Tu Lei

A student practices driving at a school in Beijing . Photo: IC

It was 6:30 am on a Thursday and 30-year-old student driver Hu Jianqiao had arisen at 5 am to try to get a jump on other novice drivers at a northern Beijing suburb for their final road test before receiving licenses.

But when he arrived there were 10 others ahead of him on the dark, foggy day.

"Tuesday my driving teacher told me to be here early but I'm surprised to see there are so many people already," said Hu, a student of Shoufeng Driving School in Beijing with three months' training.

Hu was not the first new driver among his friends and coworkers but he was surprised to find out that most of them already had their licenses after he joined a Beijing consulting company.

"Some of my friends learned to drive at their universities. But for me, driving is a must-have skill for my future no matter if I buy car or not," said Hu.

Figures from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau showed that from November 30 to December 6, about 10,000 people received driving licenses, said Xu Xiong, president of Beijing Oriental Fashion Automobile Driving School, which teaches one eighth of the driving students in the capital city.

He told the Global Times that there are about 500,000 new drivers in Beijing per year, and he was surprised to see the financial crisis last year had not affected the urge to learn to hit the road.

"The student numbers will decline this year after the Spring Festival. However, for February alone, enrollees have already reached 6,000, much beyond our prediction," said Xu in a phone interview.