Swept Under the Rug

Beijing’s transportation is on everyone’s mind these days, especially with the recent opening of Line 5 of the subway system. For commuters who live and work along the new route, the north-to-south line linking Tiantongyuan North Station to Songjiazhuang station in Fengtai district down south is certainly swell (as this blog and a multitude of other media sources have breathlessly pointed out), but there has been one additional outcome that’s had much less hype: a seemingly two-fold increase in commuters on Lines 1 and 2 during morning and evening rush hours, attracted by the new line and recently lowered 2-kuai fare.

The problem is such that rush-hour rides on the old routes have become almost unbearable, and even a Saturday-afternoon ride on Line 2 from Chongwenmen to Xizhimen this past weekend left us gasping for air. Indeed, even city officials are starting to take note: Monday's Beijing News (via Danwei.org) announced that folding bikes have now been banned from the subway since "passenger volume has jumped since the ticket price was cut ..." (a China Daily article quotes city officials as saying the total subway passenger volume has increased by 46 percent. (ADDENDUM: An article in the October 17th edition of the Beijing News says the passenger volume has jumped by 30 percent).

Last month, in a bid to increase the number of subway riders, the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission decided to cut fare prices after a public hearing (the other possible option was to introduce a distance-dependent fare of RMB 2-4). The hearing raised some doubts about the fare cut, including what kind of an effect an onslaught of new riders could mean for an already crowded subway system.

The city, for its part, has announced it will introduce 264 additional new carriages and cut waiting times for every line in order to make public transportation more comfortable and appealing. But for now, experts worry that without enough room, increasingly crowded subways will turn a section of commuters away, driving them back above ground into taxis or private cars, which kind of defeats the whole purpose, wouldn’t you say?

For city planners, this problem is a bit of déjà vu: When it lowered the cost of all bus tickets earlier this year, the city also inadvertently made city buses more crowded and even, perhaps, less attractive of an option than just hopping in a cab or shelling out and buying a car. And as for this latest transportation crunch, experts agree that even more subway lines are needed. Indeed, by 2010, the government foresees four new lines (Line 10, which will connect Xiangshan out west to stops along the east Third Rind Road is set to open in late June of 2008), while by 2020 it will aim to have the 19 lines (covering over 560 km), making it the largest subway network in the world.

But getting there, of course, requires a good deal of cash, and therein lies another problem: this latest fare reduction will cost the government about RMB 1 billion a year on top of existing subsidies, theoretically drawing more money out of the pot.

This cash crunch could be alleviated if the fare reduction compels considerably more people take the subway, hence the conundrum: while cheaper fares may help relieve some of the city’s ground traffic problems in the interim, it does not necessarily make commuting to and from work any easier for the rest of us working stiffs - especially if your office is around, say Dawang Lu.

And so for now, it seems, Lines 1 and 2 commuters can only await those new carriages and lines with bated breath.

Links and Sources:
Wikipedia: Beijing Subway
Beijing subway Wikipedia map:
http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16864
tbjblog: All Aboard
AFP: New subway eases Beijing travel misery
China Daily:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2007-10/16/content_6177939.htm
The Beijing News:
http://www.thebeijingnews.com/news/beijing/2007/10-17/021@071459.htm