China to make public transport a priority

New roads in the urban areas must have pedestrian crossings and bicycle lanes to promote people and traffic safety, said a senior official with the Ministry of Construction.

At the Public Transport Priority Development Meeting held on Saturday, Qiu Baoxing, vice minister with the Ministry of Construction, said society should reallocate social resources to make public transport a priority.

Qiu criticized some cities for eliminating pedestrian crossings and bicycle lanes from their streets. "Policies should be fair to everybody," he said.

Many Chinese citizens complain that there is not enough public transport such as buses and trams.

"Those who think city traffic jams can be solved simply by widening roads are barking up the wrong street -- this is an egregious error," Qiu said.

Wang Fengwu, deputy director of the ministry's urban construction department, agreed with Qiu, saying that in any Chinese city, road widening efforts will never catch up with the growth in vehicle ownership. "We must work to develop a mass transit system," he added.

According to Qiu, public transport systems must be improved and optimized with measures such as a priority signal system to grant buses more green-light time, banning the sale of buses and route operation rights to individuals, and asking local governments to enhance financial and policy support.

Qiu said local governments should develop stable sources for financing public transport, such as extra parking fees in downtown areas, fuel taxes and fees on license plates.

The Chinese government has channeled 2.25 trillion yuan (280 billion U.S. dollars) into the construction and upgrading of transport facilities over the past five years. A record 645 billion yuan was spent last year alone.

In 2003, the economic losses caused by traffic congestion reached 250 billion yuan (31.25 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 2 per cent of the year's GDP, according to official figures.

Source: Xinhua