The apparent success of these measures, plus the Games-related increase in public transport capacity, appears to have strengthened the case for maintaining the commitment to rail expansion, even if has not been well received by the growing car-owning classes.īeijing city authorities also support rail expansion to cut the currently long travel-to-work times and as a stimulus for businesses to disperse from the centre to new sites in the suburbs.įunding for system expansion is thought to be 40% from municipal authority budgets approximating to $1.5bn annually, the remainder coming from commercial loans. The problems of pollution from industry and traffic were well documented prior to the Olympics, prompting extreme official measures to reduce risk levels. In 2004 the China Academy of Railway Sciences identified that Beijing scored very low (4.7%) in terms of the percentage of urban journeys being made by rapid transit, well below the levels of Hong Kong, Moscow (both 55%) or Paris (66%).Įven in Tokyo, where car ownership was high compared to Beijing, the quality and coverage of public transport in the Japanese capital meant urban rail systems enjoyed high patronage by commuters. This includes car registrations which are increasing by more than 15% each year, contrasting with road space being increased by 3% annually. With more than 7.5 million people in the city proper and estimates of at least 17 million present in the conurbation, Beijing is undergoing rapid growth. “Currently exceeded in length by the metro in Shanghai, China’s largest city and premier cultural and economic force, the Beijing Subway is an evolving project that will make it the longest in the country.”
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