Guangzhou rethinks transport scheme
Source: Xinhua |
November 8, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES in south China's Guangzhou, host city of the 2010 Asian Games, will cancel a newly launched free public transportation service due to the enormous public response, which might pose a security threat to the Asian Games.
The government earlier this month launched a color-coding scheme for vehicles, effectively taking half of the city's 2.1 million private cars and those entering the city each day during the Asian Games off the streets.
As a remedy, free public transport service was to be offered for 30 working days beginning on November 1.
The offer was met with unprecedented enthusiasm from Guangzhou residents. For days, subway trains were often crammed and stations were full as swarms of people lined up to take a free ride.
Now, officials with Guangzhou's transportation authorities said they had to rescind the offer as more than 8 million passengers took the subway on an average day beginning November 1, a figure "much, much higher" than the subway system was designed to carry.
Authorities had to take special measures to reduce passenger volume on the subway 144 times during the week. The huge numbers "seriously affect the normal °?security checks required for the Games" and cause "inconvenience," officials said.
Guangzhou authorities plan to roll back the free-day scheme today and replace it with a cash subsidy program in which each household in Guangzhou will receive 150 yuan (US$22.54) as a transportation subsidy.
The government earlier this month launched a color-coding scheme for vehicles, effectively taking half of the city's 2.1 million private cars and those entering the city each day during the Asian Games off the streets.
As a remedy, free public transport service was to be offered for 30 working days beginning on November 1.
The offer was met with unprecedented enthusiasm from Guangzhou residents. For days, subway trains were often crammed and stations were full as swarms of people lined up to take a free ride.
Now, officials with Guangzhou's transportation authorities said they had to rescind the offer as more than 8 million passengers took the subway on an average day beginning November 1, a figure "much, much higher" than the subway system was designed to carry.
Authorities had to take special measures to reduce passenger volume on the subway 144 times during the week. The huge numbers "seriously affect the normal °?security checks required for the Games" and cause "inconvenience," officials said.
Guangzhou authorities plan to roll back the free-day scheme today and replace it with a cash subsidy program in which each household in Guangzhou will receive 150 yuan (US$22.54) as a transportation subsidy.
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