Announcements in Shanghai dialect to be added on city buses

By Ma Yue | September 12, 2013, Thursday |

Online Edition

PUBLIC buses in the city will add Shanghai dialect to their announcements in Mandarin and English starting next month, according to the city’s transportation management authorities.

Language models and regulations have been given out to the city’s public bus companies, who will first put the service into use on new routes, and then gradually on other lines.

Officials said trials on bus routes like No. 785 and No. 11 showed the added language was welcomed by most passengers, who found it warm and interesting.

According to the operator of the No. 11 bus, a route that circles Yuyuan Garden, the service aroused attention among bus riders, especially tourists, who found it added flavor to their tour of old Shanghai’s downtown area.

However, along bus routes with stops as short as 500 meters from each other, the announcements in three languages continued through the whole ride and led to complaints from some passengers who found it annoying.

The city first added Shanghai dialect to bus announcements as a trial at the end of 2011 along the No. 785 route in the Pudong New Area. It was later expended to six other routes including No. 11 and No. 49 running downtown.

The newly released regulations include different rules for the use of language in audio announcements and information tickers on screens aboard buses, as well as highway buses, transportation authorities said.

Community routes or buses running in suburban villages will have broadcasts in two languages composed of Mandarin with either Shanghai dialect or English, depending on the distance between stops and the passengers’ needs.

According to the regulations, suggestions such as “please give seats to those who need help” will be communicated mainly on information screens.

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Announcements in Shanghai dialect to be added on city buses

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