[photopress:logistics_subway.jpg,full,alignright]Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of Beijing’s municipal committee of communications promises that all of the people living within Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road and that is a large slab of the population — will never be more than about one km from a subway station once a new citywide mass-transit rail network is completed in 2015.
By that time, 8 million people will use the subway every day; at the moment the figure is 2.9 million.
The forecast is that by by 2015, about 45% of all journeys made in the capital, including those by bus, will be on public transport. That is compared to 34.5% at present.
Ten new subway lines are currently under construction although most of them will not be completed until after the 2008 Olympics.
Two — Line 10 (which includes the branch going through main Olympic venues) and the airport rail line — will be opened ahead of the Games.
By next year, the total length of the city’s subways will be 200 km.
This year, the price of a standard bus ticket was reduced to RMB0.4 (5 cents) for public traffic card holders and a subway ticket to RMB2, making Beijing one of the cheapest places in the country for public transport.
Liu Xiaoming said, ‘The investments and efforts have stopped Beijing’s traffic situation from deteriorating, and in some areas have actually seen improvement.’ Much improvement is still needed to make the traffic relatively civilized.
Source: People’s Daily Online
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