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Beijing bus system to receive capital injection

By Li Fangchao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-19 14:29

Beijingwill spend almost half of its transportation infrastructure budget improving its bus system ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in an ambitious bid to avoid becoming a giant parking lot during the event.

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As construction crews race against time to build more underground arteries to ease traffic pressure, the capital city is planning to boost its bus system by pouring in billions of yuan.

Chen Nan, a section chief of the Beijing Finance Bureau, said the municipal government would earmark 71.5 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion) to develop public transportation during the11th Five-Year Planperiod (2006-10), representing 45 per cent of the entire transportation infrastructure budget.

The amount is 47.7 billion yuan (US$6.1 billion), or 18 per cent more than the amount provided in the10th Five-Year Planperiod (2000-05), said Li Jianguo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications.

"That shows the government's determination to give priority to public transportation," Li said.

The move follows a statement from the Ministry of Construction earlier this month, urging the government to promote the development of public transportation and increase financial support.

The statement called on local governments to consider public transportation as a part of social welfare and not to ignore social interests in the pursuit of economic gain.

It also called for more financial support and subsidies for bus companies.

Li also released a plan aimed at optimizing bus routes and reducing fares.

According to the plan, 110 overlapping lines within the third ring road will be scrapped, and the 1,500 buses currently plying those routes will be relocated to connect the more than 300 communities outside the city proper.

Every community that has a population of more than 7,000 people should have access to at least one bus route, Li said.

Li said the goal was to better distribute the city's transportation capability to benefit the "biggest majority."