People within Beijing's
Fourth Ring Road will never be more than about 1 km from a subway
station once a new citywide mass-transit rail network is completed
in 2015, an official said yesterday.
Speaking at a press
conference, Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of Beijing's municipal
committee of communications, said that by that time, 8 million
people will use the subway every day, up from the current 2.9
million.
He said that by 2015,
about 45 percent of all journeys made in the capital, including
those by bus, will be on public transport, up from 34.5 percent at
present.
Ten new subway lines are
currently under construction, most of which will not be completed
until after the 2008 Olympics.
Two, however - Line 10
(which includes the branch going through main Olympic venues) and
the airport rail line - will be opened ahead of the Games, Liu
said.
By next year, the total
length of the city's subways will be 200 km.
To meet demand during
the Games, the committee plans to extend the operating hours of all
subways and buses, and add 34 special Olympic bus routes, Liu
said.
With some 1,000 new cars
appearing on Beijing's roads every day, Liu said authorities in the
capital are under increasing pressure to address the traffic
situation.
"But we will not curb
private car ownership. What we will do is to continue to adopt
policies that encourage people to use public transport," Liu
said.
This year, the price of
a standard bus ticket was reduced to 0.4 yuan (5 cents) for public
traffic card holders and a subway ticket to 2 yuan, making Beijing
one of the cheapest places in the country for public transport, he
said.
Chen Chen, a journalist
in the capital, said, "People from outside Beijing are often
surprised when they find it costs only 0.4 yuan to ride on a bus
here."
In many other cities,
the standard fare is at least 1 yuan, he said.
The price cuts will cost
the municipal government 4.15 billion yuan this year, Liu
said.
He said the government
has earmarked 71.5 billion yuan for public transport between 2006
and 2010, which accounts for 45 percent of the total investment on
communications infrastructure.
"The investments and
efforts have stopped Beijing's traffic situation from
deteriorating, and in some areas have actually seen improvement,"
Liu said.
Wang Gang, director of
the Beijing municipal center for communications, said at
yesterday's press conference that car owners will also be
encouraged to fit satellite navigation systems.
"Our research has shown
they can cut traveling time by up to 15 percent," he
said.
(China Daily
December 14, 2007)
