City vows top priority for public transport
17/6/2004 15:22
Shanghai pledges to give top priority to public transport development
and plans to raise the use rate of the public transport system by 8 percent in
five years, local urban transport administration revealed on June
16.
Administrative officials are in deliberation on an overseas BRT fast
transport system and are assessing whether it's applicable to the city.
Under
this system, the city will leave specialized traffic ways, signals, vehicles and
stations for buses, metros, ferries, taxis and other public transports.
Like
other densely populated metropolis, Shanghai has long been harassed with the
conflict between the huge traffic volume and the insufficient road system.
To
improve the local traffic, the city has introduced the "public transport first"
methodology into its construction for the transportation network for five
years.
The methodology has worked effectively as the city's public transport
system has become more convenient and is more frequently used, with the use rate
growing from 16 percent to 22.3 percent from 1998 to 2003.
In the five-year
period, four rail transport lines of a total 82 kilometers long have been
completed for service in Shanghai.
The buses in service have increased from
13,000 to 18,000 with the distances of the routes soaring 90 percent.
Key
public transport transit centers have been in constructed in busy areas such as
Xujiahui, Zhongshan Park and Wujiaochang.
Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news
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