Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co yesterday began to operate 20 Mercedes Benz buses on one of the city's six routes linking the downtown area with Pudong International Airport.

The city's largest public transportation service provider bought the Benz buses, each costing 1.9 million yuan (US$228,000), to upgrade its fleet plying between Pudong airport and the city's Galaxy Hotel in the Hongqiao area.

The Shanghai-listed firm also will soon deploy 30 more Benz buses to upgrade vehicles on its other airport-bound service and its tourism service fleet.

The launch of the Benz buses is another move by Dazhong to offer luxurious comfort to passengers using public transport.

The company recently announced it will put 50 Benz cabs to serve passengers from the first day of the lunar New Year, which falls on January 22.

Dazhong is operating two of the city's six Pudong airport-bound bus routes.

The route from Galaxy Hotel to the airport earns the company between 1.5 million and 1.6 million yuan monthly, but the other service which starts from Shanghai's Taopu Road in the west brings a monthly turnover of some 500,000 yuan.

Yang Guoping, general manager of Dazhong, said the company will continue to upgrade its vehicles and facilities to prepare for the 2010 World Expo.

(Shanghai Daily January 19, 2004)