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Transport survey meets skepticism
By Dong Zhen |
September 16, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY locals expressed disbelief yesterday at a government survey that showed they each spent only 749 yuan (US$117) on daily transportation last year.
Some took their opinions online, suggesting that officials might be deliberately under-reporting Shanghai's rising transport costs.
The citywide survey was completed by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, whose workers visited households asking about locals' spending for service products such as transportation and housing. It was released yesterday.
In a category called "transport cost," the survey showed Shanghai residents spending an average of 749 yuan in 2010, about 40 percent more than five years earlier. That statistic quickly prompted public debate, with many calling the number "surreal."
But the bureau yesterday told Shanghai Daily that the figure was misunderstood.
"Transport cost" referred only to spending for public transit - subways, public buses, ferries and taxis. Fuel bills and other car-related services, which are much more costly than pubic transport, are excluded for this category, officials said.
In addition, every statistic used in the survey was on a per-capita basis, meaning every resident was counted - including family members who didn't travel on a daily basis or maybe didn't travel at all.
The figures included both workers and non-workers, said the bureau.
"If you understand the cost resulted from using private cars is not included in this category of expenditure and that the non-working people such as children and seniors of the families were also taken into account in the survey, the figure would be reasonable," said a bureau official surnamed Yang yesterday.
Yang said the survey actually showed an average working person in Shanghai spent a little more than 10 yuan daily on commutes by public transit last year.
Given that the bus fare is 2 yuan on most downtown routes while the cheapest subway ticket is 3 yuan, such a result appeared closer to accurately reflecting real costs, said several commuters interviewed by Shanghai Daily.
The bureau also said that if the cost of buying cars, paying parking, fuel and repair bills as well as other more private traffic expenses were included in the survey of daily transport spending, an average local would have used 2,891 yuan for transport services last year.
But this figure was not disclosed in the report released to the public. Officials said they would flesh out results of such surveys in a clearer way in the future to avoid misleading the public.
Some took their opinions online, suggesting that officials might be deliberately under-reporting Shanghai's rising transport costs.
The citywide survey was completed by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, whose workers visited households asking about locals' spending for service products such as transportation and housing. It was released yesterday.
In a category called "transport cost," the survey showed Shanghai residents spending an average of 749 yuan in 2010, about 40 percent more than five years earlier. That statistic quickly prompted public debate, with many calling the number "surreal."
But the bureau yesterday told Shanghai Daily that the figure was misunderstood.
"Transport cost" referred only to spending for public transit - subways, public buses, ferries and taxis. Fuel bills and other car-related services, which are much more costly than pubic transport, are excluded for this category, officials said.
In addition, every statistic used in the survey was on a per-capita basis, meaning every resident was counted - including family members who didn't travel on a daily basis or maybe didn't travel at all.
The figures included both workers and non-workers, said the bureau.
"If you understand the cost resulted from using private cars is not included in this category of expenditure and that the non-working people such as children and seniors of the families were also taken into account in the survey, the figure would be reasonable," said a bureau official surnamed Yang yesterday.
Yang said the survey actually showed an average working person in Shanghai spent a little more than 10 yuan daily on commutes by public transit last year.
Given that the bus fare is 2 yuan on most downtown routes while the cheapest subway ticket is 3 yuan, such a result appeared closer to accurately reflecting real costs, said several commuters interviewed by Shanghai Daily.
The bureau also said that if the cost of buying cars, paying parking, fuel and repair bills as well as other more private traffic expenses were included in the survey of daily transport spending, an average local would have used 2,891 yuan for transport services last year.
But this figure was not disclosed in the report released to the public. Officials said they would flesh out results of such surveys in a clearer way in the future to avoid misleading the public.
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