Overpricing admitted

The transport authority in East China's Jiangsu province has admitted to overpricing at a toll station at the airport expressway in Nanjing.

Yan Zhiming, an official at the provincial transport department, admitted that the pricing of the airport expressway is "unreasonable" and charging twice for round trips to the airport is "unfair to taxis and private car owners".

Nanjing resident Huang Naihai posted an online thread on June 15 after he was charged 20 yuan ($3.10) twice during a round trip to the airport. According to the posting, the 29-km expressway charges 0.69 yuan per kilometer. The price far exceeds the national pricing standard of 0.45 yuan per kilometer set in 2004.

The posting estimated that with daily traffic volume of 28,000 vehicles, the expressway has collected at least 2.8 billion yuan during its 14 years of operation, almost three times the construction cost.

You Qingzhong, head of the Jiangsu transport department, said last week that the department will launch an investigation into problems with the province's toll system and will publicize the results in September.