Beijing has begun trialing a bicycle rental system, giving residents and visitors access to 2,000 bikes from 63 locations in the city, and the number of rental bikes will be upped to 50,000 in 2015, according to an announcement from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport on Saturday.

To encourage residents to cycle when travelling short distances, rental bikes will be free for the first hour, and their use will be priced at one yuan ($0.15) per hour after that point. The fee for a whole day won't exceed 10 yuan.

Residents and tourists can rent the bikes in kiosks with their ID cards or copies.

The commission said that 10,000 more rental bikes will be provided in the second half of this year.

China's capital has about 5 million vehicles on its roads, leading to serious traffic congestion that frustrates the city's residents on a daily basis.

To ease traffic congestion, Beijing has made various efforts to encourage people to opt for public transport.