The city of Nanyang, Henan province, announced that it has 100 hybrid gas-electric buses in service, as of Sept 23, allowing it to protect the environment by cutting harmful emissions and provide more convenient services at the same time by shortening its departure interval from 8.7 minutes to 6.7 minutes.

In explaining the new move, Li Hongzhou, head of operations for the Nanyang Public Transport Co, said, "We're using the new vehicles on Lines 1, 4, 6, 8, and 22 to replace the old, traditional buses that will be either scrapped or added to other lines if they're still in good condition."

The city says that 300 of its 550 buses are the new energy vehicles and, compared with the older gas-powered buses, are more comfortable because of air-conditioning and more intelligent because of LED panels on the rear that automatically tell what the vehicle is doing.