3-day subway pass to be introduced later this year
- Source: Global Times
- [11:21 March 11 2011]
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By Wang Yi
Despite declining sales for the city's one-day subway pass, local subway authorities are planning to launch a three-day pass for some 50 yuan ($7.60) later this year, chairman of the city's subway operator said this week.
The new pass, which would be valid for up to three days, will allow card-holders unlimited travel on the city's 12 subway lines during operating hours, said Ying Minghong, chairman of Shentong Metro Group, which manages the city's 280 stations across the city.
He revealed the plan on Wednesday during a National People's Congress session in Beijing, saying that the proposal had already been submitted to Shanghai officials and is awaiting approval.
But plans for the three-day pass come even as sales for its one-day counterpart continue to fall without the demand created by passengers from the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, admitted Li Junjun, an official from Shentong Metro Group, Thursday.
Sales of the 18-yuan ($2.74) card that allows passengers unlimited travel for the day is down to some 850 tickets a day, compared to some 3,000 tickets per day at its peak during the six-month event in the city last year, according to subway statistics.
"A lot of passengers simply think it's not worth it," Li told the Global Times Thursday. "It's really only useful to people who need to travel at least five times a day given that basic routes cost passengers 3 yuan ($0.46) per ride."
Additional statistics from the subway authority showed that 54.5 percent of the passengers who purchased the one-day pass ended up using the subway less than four times per day, while nearly four percent of those who bought it only rode the subway once a day.