The operator of Shanghai's under ground railways, the Shentong Metro Co Ltd, proposed on May 30 raising metro and light rail prices, during a hearing held at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.

Two proposals include detailed progressive price packages to steer the passenger flow and ease the overloaded metro lines.

The plan adheres to a two-yuan basic price but reduces the starting mileage from six kilometres to four kilometres. Moreover, it designed more rungs in the progressive price ladder to make prices more commensurate with distances.

The alternative plan, which is similar to the first, allows for floating prices, rising in rush hours, to limit passenger flow.

According to the plans, a ticket that covers a distance of four kilometres will be raised to three or four yuan from the current two.

Both plans will raise the highest ticket from the current six yuan (US$0.73) to eight (US$0.97).

According to a statement released by the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, some 20 people representing the operator, transport experts, passengers and related government offices and 10 citizens selected randomly as auditors, who were invited to attend the hearing, agreed that proper price adjustment will help ease the strain on overloaded trains.

But some suggested the operator improve its transport capacity, and reminded the government to consider the affordability of tickets to different income groups.

The city's price bureau who organized the hearing will decide on a final solution after further deliberation, but did not say when the final result will be released.

Overloaded system

Shanghai's tracked transit system, opened in 1995 and now consisting of two metro lines and two light railway lines, has been overloaded in recent years.

In the rush hours from 7 to 9 in the morning and 5 to 7 in the evening, the metro cars are packed with up to 25 per cent more riders than the prescribed holding capacity, causing worries about extra maintenance costs and safety.

At some stations, security guards have to push the passengers into the trains to allow the doors to be closed, and sometimes some are stranded at stations.

The busiest Line 1 subway alone carried an average 1.77 million passengers every day in April, up more than 30 per cent year-by-year. It carried a record 2.08 million passengers on May 2.

Wu Qifei, an art designer, said he has recently started riding bicycle to work instead of taking the Line 1 subway because of the increasing crowds.

Although the Shentong Metro has plans to order 26 new trains to reinforce Line 1, which currently has 10 trains in operation, the trains will not all be in place until 2008.

The metro transportation picture may worsen next year when a new station is opened on Line 1.

Shanghai has many more metro lines under construction as the city undergoes an upsurge of infrastructure development in preparation for the 2010 World Expo. It plans to have 17 urban tracked lines over a distance of 810 kilometres by 2020, reducing the maximum travel time between any two stops in the mega-city to 45 minutes.

Controversial adjustment

The proposed price adjustment plans are based on surveys which found some 20-30 per cent of passengers can avoid commuting at rush hours, and that the majority of metro-takers travel for short distances.

The goal of the proposed price adjustment is to discourage some passengers from taking metros at rush hours and push more short-distance commuters onto buses.

But people have different opinions.

"If the government does mean to relieve the peak-hour strain, it should raise the short-distance price and keep the long one," said Zhu who takes a train to work every day.

"But obviously, all the prices will be raised and the current train price is already expensive."

There is some doubt whether the plans will really work.

"I don't believe the price hike will do anything to help ease the strains of the metro unless the price is raised as high as taxis," said Melody Yao.

Yao said that about 70 per cent of her workmates take trains to work every day.

"To people who cannot afford private cars or bear the jams on the surface, the subway is the only option however high the ticket prices," said a young man at the bustling Xujiahui metro station.

Experts however noted that more than 30 per cent of the current commuters who travel less than six kilometres might shift to buses after the price is adjusted.

"But many of them will change back after comparing convenience, price and comfort, " suggested one transportation expert quoted by the Youth Daily.