Han Ximin

ATTENDEES at a hearing Tuesday called on the government to implement a flat rate per journey to substantially reduce bus fares across the city and criticized the six plans proposed by the transport authority as unsatisfactory and disappointing.

Twenty-one representatives from the city government, bus companies and the public attended the hearing, organized by the city's pricing bureau.

"Bus fares will still be much higher than other major Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, if any of the present six plans is adopted," said Yang Yiping, a lawyer and member of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who first proposed bus fare cut at the annual session of the municipal people's congress earlier in March. Yang received thousands of messages, phone calls and e-mails in the past weeks after the government announced a hearing to consider the new fare proposals.

"The proposals are far from satisfactory and greatly below the public's expectations," said Yang, suggesting Shenzhen introduce a flat fare system and encourage the use of TransCard, taking Beijing as an example.

Before the hearing, Liu Haihong, assistant manager of China Paint

Manufacturing Shenzhen Co. Ltd., surveyed migrant workers in Shajing Subdistrict, Bao'an District. Their expenditure on public transport is around 120 to 150 yuan a month, accounting for 10-20 percent of their income.

"Bus fares are too high because they are based on distance," said Liu.

In Bao'an District, most bus companies charge passengers by distance on top of an initial fare. Companies charge 0.17 yuan per kilometer for buses without air conditioning, and 0.25 yuan per kilometer for air-conditioned buses. The starting price is two yuan a ride. It costs around 10 yuan for a single trip from Shajing to downtown Shenzhen.

He suggested two yuan per ride within a distance of 28 kilometers for an air-conditioned bus and 0.5 yuan for each additional 10 kilometers.

"The new bus fares couldn't be implemented without the government subsidizing bus companies," said Li Yongsheng, deputy manager of Shenzhen Bus Group. The bus company's profit margin stands at 4.76 percent, much lower than expected because bus companies had invested large sums of money in setting up bus terminals, which should be the government's responsibility, purchasing new buses and opening new routes. The turnover of drivers and conductors in Shenzhen Yunfa Industrial Co. reached 40 percent a year, due to their low incomes caused by shrinking profit margins driven by fierce competition among bus companies.

Many suggested the introduction of a flat fare system together with the use of TransCard, which would offer additional discounts. But in Shenzhen, only 25 percent of the buses are equipped with card reading machines. The TransCard is unpopular because the discount rate is only 5 percent on buses with card readers and users having to pay 40 yuan in deposit to obtain the card.

The pricing bureau will consider attendees' suggestions and propose a new plan to the government before it is implemented in October.