Shanghai Officials: Get on the bus

It’s official, subway prices will rise as of next week to 3 yuan for “short trips” reports the Shanghai Daily. The city's English-language mouthpiece explains that the increase in fares is to discourage people from “jamming into overcrowded subway cars” and instead jam into overcrowded buses. The paper also states that the current metro lines carry 25 percent more people then they were designed for, which makes us wonder -- are these subways safe? Shanghaiist agrees that encouraging public transportation use such as buses is a good idea, but at the same time this city needs to start taking real measures to curb private car use. We suggest that instead of increasing fares on public transportation, the city increase parking fees for private cars in the city -- they can start with the dick that parks his Benz S600 right in front of our office entrance every morning like he owns the place.

The fare increase does raise some questions: Does the city really need to rake in more cash from subway fares? During a public hearing on subway price hikes, one middle-aged woman pointed out:

Look at all the advertising boards and stores and booths that are leased out in every station, how can the subway company still want to charge more from passengers?

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Shanghai to raise subway fares