Shanghai residents go 'BMW' to beat jams_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Shanghai residents go 'BMW' to beat jams

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An increasing number of Shanghai residents are abandoning their cars and adopting what has been dubbed the BMW commute pattern - bus, metro, walk - to avoid traffic jams and parking fees.

Gu Liping, 34, recently stopped driving his car to work and moved to public transport, saving himself 40 minutes a day in travel time and 600 yuan ($95) a month in parking fees and gas.

"I used to think driving was more convenient than taking the subway, but as Shanghai's traffic has grown, public transport has become more comfortable and flexible," he said.

It takes Gu about 55 minutes by car from home to work and costs 20 yuan per day to park, but takes just 35 minutes by subway and costs 4 yuan.

Gu is not alone in going BMW. About 47 percent of Shanghai residents who commute to work chose public transport last year, and the numbers are growing, Sun Jianping, head of the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority, said on Wednesday.

The city is expanding its public transport network to meet the increasing demand and ease traffic congestion, he added.

This includes plans to expand bus lanes from the existing 162 km to 300 km by the end of 2017, according to the municipal government.

Ding Shoufeng, a Shanghai bus driver, said that special bus lanes cut the time it takes to cover his route by a quarter, or 10 minutes, during non-peak times.

Shanghai has no plans to charge drivers a congestion fee or introduce traffic control measures, said Sun, adding that the city prefers instead to ease congestion by creating a public transport network that people want to travel on.