Expanding subways ease crowded roads

0 CommentsPrint E-mail China Daily, April 10, 2011
Adjust font size:

China's growing urban congestion has prompted plans for newer and longer metro lines to ease the crowded roads. But the trains bring more than just commuting convenience. Often, they bring about a change of lifestyle, as David Cohen finds out.

A subway train driver conducts a trial run along line 15 in Beijing in December 2010. The opening of five new lines, including Line 15, has brought the total reach of the city's subway network to 336 kilometers.

A subway train driver conducts a trial run along line 15 in Beijing in December 2010. The opening of five new lines, including Line 15, has brought the total reach of the city's subway network to 336 kilometers.

People in the town of Nanshao are excited. The rural community, surrounded by farmland and unpaved roads and only 25 kilometers north of the second ring road, is one of the newest additions to Beijing's subway network. The residents believe that with the new train station will come economic development that will change the small township into a busy suburban community.

Locals predict that workers from Beijing will take advantage of the new metro line to escape the city, bringing money to the community, whose largest employer is currently a small window factory. Zhao, a taxi driver waiting near the station, predicts that his life would improve as people move to Nanshao to flee the pollution and congestion of the capital. "Once the seventh ring road opens, it's going to get even better," he says.

The market evidently agrees with his assessment. The two-street town is already bordered by construction sites and the skeletons of new high-rises, and locals say the price of an apartment has risen from the tens of thousands to millions of yuan in just two years. Nanshao's new subway station is the terminus of the new Changping Line, one of four new subway lines that opened early this year.

It is testimony to Beijing's ambition and the speed of its growth. For most of its length, the new line runs through open fields and small towns - and the construction sites that will transform the area into miles of densely populated suburbs. According to plans published by the department of transportation, it will ultimately be only a small part of a network that will add several hundred kilometers of track to Beijing's existing 400-kilometer system over the next four years, stretching far into the city's hinterland.

Public transport is critical to the growth of Beijing, like all Chinese cities. Rising car ownership, and movement to suburban areas driven by rising house prices, has given Beijing some of the worst traffic in the world. A 2010 survey conducted by IBM rated Beijing's commute as the worst in the world, tied with Mexico City.

Traffic, planners say, is more than a waste of time for commuters.

Jiang Pingzhou, an expert in transportation policy working for a foreign NGO, explains.

"The underlying concern is not just that congestion is bad, because it costs people more time, but that it causes bad air, which is a bigger issue. So even the driver stuck in traffic isn't paying the full cost of congestion."

Despite the scale and speed of construction on a system that has opened an average of two lines a year since 2007, transportation experts say the city faces enormous challenges coping with its growing population.

Li Meng, an associate professor of transportation planning at Tsinghua University who works with the city of Beijing on traffic issues, says Beijing's transport system is simply not catching up with the public need. "Even though we're growing fast, we're still behind," he says.

1   2   3   Next  


Print E-mail Bookmark and Share

Go to Forum >>0 Comments

No comments.

Add your comments...

  • User Name Required
  • Your Comment
  • Racist, abusive and off-topic comments may be removed by the moderator.
Send your storiesGet more from China.org.cnMobileRSSNewsletter
主站蜘蛛池模板: 看成年女人免费午夜视频| 国产精品入口在线看麻豆| 尤果圈3.2.6破解版| 久久午夜夜伦鲁鲁片无码免费| 第一福利在线观看| 在线综合 亚洲 欧美中文字幕| 亚洲av午夜福利精品一区| 欧美色视频在线| 国产一级特黄a大片免费| 99久久久国产精品免费蜜臀| 怡红院国产免费| 丰满老熟好大bbb| 日韩人妻精品一区二区三区视频 | 韩国美女主播免费的网站| 天天操天天干天天摸| 两个小姨子在线播放| 日产精品99久久久久久| 久久精品一区二区三区日韩| 波多野结衣黑人| 免费A级毛片无码免费视频| 精品在线小视频| 四虎在线成人免费网站| 色噜噜狠狠色综合欧洲| 国产人妖视频一区二区| 高清色黄毛片一级毛片| 国内精品九九久久久精品| a级毛片100部免费观看| 好好的曰com久久| xxxxx亚洲| 好男人好资源在线| аⅴ资源中文在线天堂| 学霸c了我一节课| 一二三四社区在线中文视频| 日韩在线看片免费人成视频播放| 亚洲va在线va天堂va手机| 欧美在线视频a| 亚洲午夜精品在线| 男人j进女人p免费视频| 免费一看一级毛片全播放| 秋霞鲁丝片一区二区三区| 免费精品99久久国产综合精品|