A child plays in the snow on Century Avenue, Pudong, yesterday as the city enjoyed a sunny day after the gloom of the previous two days.- Shanghai Daily

Shanghai Daily news

Transport authorities have swooped on 14 illegal long-distance bus ticket offices and caught more than 810 buses involved in illegal operations since January 22.

The traffic law enforcement team said most illicit operations were caught during periods of heavy snow when departures and arrivals were in disarray.

Last Thursday the team checked a 46-seat bus which was due to depart from the crossroad of Pushan Road and Zhijiang Road W.

Police said the driver had raised the ticket price from 50 yuan (US$6.9) to 130 yuan and 170 yuan. The investigation revealed the driver had applied to the Long-Distance Bus General Station to cancel his bus service to Nantong, in Jiangsu Province, because of the weather conditions.

Officials also found ads stuck on the walls outside the station, claiming buses were delayed. The ads said anyone who wanted to travel on the buses could contact the drivers directly.

Team officials contacted one driver whose bus was to travel from Shanghai to Shangqiu in Henan Province and was told the ticket price was 500 yuan, considerably higher than the regular price of 150 yuan.

They were also promised the bus would depart late that night but, according to information from the station, the bus was not going anywhere.

Since there isn't any regulation to limit the number of tickets passengers can buy, some bus drivers bought all the tickets for their buses and sold them to passengers for a higher price, officials found.

A ticket from Shanghai to Putian, Fujian Province, was raised from 300 yuan to 700 yuan.

During the crackdown, some illegal buses without business licenses were discovered. They also had ticket offices but charged higher than the regular price.

From last Friday, transport authorities added 800 more buses every day to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.

There were 41 legal ticket offices around the city. Passengers can also visit www.ewalker.com.cn to check prices and departure times.