Beijing is deploying 25,000 security personnel on public buses and bus stations to ensure safety.
The security personnel, comprising mechanics, management and support personnel of the Beijing Public Transport Holdings Ltd., will be deployed "at every bus station and on every bus" starting from Aug. 1, according to Zhang Guoguang, company president.

In total, 15,000 security personnel would work at bus stations while the rest would be on buses to check luggage they found "suspicious." They would be identified by a red band on their arm reading "Beijing bus security check" in Chinese.

Passengers carrying contraband goods would be asked to discard the goods, otherwise they would be advised not to take the bus. The security personnel would report to the police if suspicious passengers insisted on boarding the bus, Zhang said.

Bus drivers and conductors would also help with security checksif necessary, he said.

Beijing has about 350 existing bus routes. The public transport system will be able to move 21.1 million passengers daily during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Zhang said the move was to ensure the safety of passengers during the Olympics, but did not say when the security checks would end.