Beijinger Wang Yong's efforts to get the authorities to legalize car sharing by strangers have finally hit the mark.

Since 1998, Wang, 37, has offered free rides to more than 10,000 people in the capital. He usually waits at the No 344 bus stop in Huilongguan, Changping district, every morning and gives a lift to people taking the same route as him.

But it is only recently that Beijing's traffic control authorities officially acknowledged the sharing of a private car.