Developing metro systems in the People’s Republic

DevelopingmetrosystemsinthePeople’sRepublicofChina:PolicyandgapsBECKYP.Y.LOO1,*&DENNISY.N.LI21DepartmentofGeography,TheUniversityofHongKong,Pokfulam,HongKong2MetroSolutionsLimited,HongKong(*Authorforcorrespondence,E-mail:[e-mail])Keywords:affordabilitygap,financinggap,localization,non-farerevenue,technologygap,technologytransferAbstract.RapidurbanizationhastakenplaceinChinasincetheOpenPolicyin1978.Infaceofthegrowingdemandformobilityinlargecities,newmetrosystemsweredevelopedinlargecitieslikeGuangzhouandShanghai.Atpresent,therearesevencitieswith10metrolinesunderconstruction.WhatarethepolicyissuesandmajorchallengesofdevelopingmetrosystemsinChina?ThispapersystematicallyreviewsthecurrentsituationandhighlightsthreemajorgapsthatChinesecitieshavetoovercomeinplanningmetrosystems.Theyarethetechnologygap,thefinancinggapandtheaffordabilitygap.AdiscussionofthesegapsintheChinesecontextleadsustotheconclusionthatearlyplanningandcarefulstudiesareimportantinthedevelopmentofmetrosystemsinChina.Moreover,theexistingofficialcriteria(populationandeconomicpower)forapprovingthebuildingofmetrosystemsareinsufficientandshouldbesupplementedbymorevigorousevaluationcriteria.1.RapidurbanizationinChinaThePeople’sRepublicofChinaisthethirdlargestcountryintheworld,coveringanareaof9.6millionsquarekilometers.In2001,Chinahadapop-ulationof1.3billion(CSSB2003).Administratively,thecountryisdividedinto23provinces,fiveautonomousregions,fourcentrallyadministeredmunicipalitiesandtwospecialadministrationregions.DuetothedifferentpolicyandinstitutionalsettingsinHongKong,MacauandTaiwan,thedis-cussiononlyfocusesonmainlandChina.EversincetheOpenPolicyin1978,Chinesecitieshaveexperiencedrapidgrowth,bothintermsofnumberandsize.Urbanizationtransformsthespa-tialdistributionofpeopleintoamorecompactandorderlyspace,thusenablingamoreeffectiveorganizationofeconomicactivitiesandamoreefficientprovisionofservicestocitydwellers.In2001,citiesoccupied5.10%ofthelandmassinChina,butithousednearlyone-quarter(23.82%)ofTransportation(2006)33:115–132
Springer2006DOI:10.1007/s11116-005-3046-2thepopulation(USST2003).In1995,therewere75citieswithapopulationofoverhalfamillion(USST1997).Amongthem,43had0.5–1millionpopulation,22had1–2millionpopulationand10hadover2millionpopu-lation.By2001,thenumberoftheselargecitiesofdifferentsizesroseto61,28and13,respectively(USST2003).Spatially,therearegreatvariationsinthedistributionoflargecities.In2001,theeasternregionhad53citieswithoverhalfamillionpopulation,thecentralregionhad39andthewesternregionhadonly10(USST2003).Inotherwords,mostofthelargecitieswereconcentratedinthemoredevelopedeasternregion.ThistrendofrapidurbanizationhasbeencloselyassociatedwiththehigheconomicgrowthofmainlandChinaaftertheOpenPolicy.TheChineseGrossDomesticProduct(GDP)hasincreasedmorethan20timessince1978andin2002stoodatapercapitaGDPofUS$989(CSSB2003).Asaneconomygrows,thedemandforpersonalmobilityalsoincreases(Owen1964).Theneedisespeciallyevidentincitieswheretherearehighconcentra-tionsofpopulationandeconomicactivities.Rapidurbanization,inturn,exertspressureonmunicipalgovernmentstoprovidetheinfrastructurerequiredtosupportbothprivateandpublictransport.Tosatisfythedemandforhighermobility,therearetwomajorapproaches.ThefirstapproachisbasedonWesternexperience,whichconsistsofhighrelianceonmotorizationanditscollateralheavyinvestmentontheconstruc-tionofroadnetwork.InthemanyWesternsocieties,therapidurbansprawlandsuburbanizationhaveprimarilybeensupportedbytheexpandingexpressways(Taaffeetal.1996;Noland&Lem2002).Thisapproachisalsoassociatedwithlowroadtollelasticitiesandhighratesofcarownershipandusage(Loo2003).InNewYork,forinstance,thetransitshareofcommutertripswasonlyabout10.8%in2001(AmericanDreamCoalition2004).Thesecondapproachisbasedontheexperienceincities,likeHongKongandSingapore,whichfocusonthedevelopmentofurbanmasstransitsystemsandadoptapolicyofsuppressingthegrowthofprivatemodes.HongKongisacaseinpointwhereabout90%ofthetripsofthesocietyweremadebypublictransport(HKSARGovernment2003).Similarly,thepublictransportsysteminSingaporecarriedasmanyas51%ofallmotorizedtripsin2001(SingaporeLandTransportAuthority2003).Increasingly,thesecondapproachhasbecomemoreattractivetolargecitiesforvariousreasons.Firstly,itisdifficultandcostlytofindlandincit-iesforthecontinualexpansionofroadsandcarparks.Theproblemispar-ticularlyacuteincitieswithlongdevelopmenthistories.Secondly,thegrowthrateofroadscanseldomcatchupwiththeincreaseincarownershipandcarusage.Thereisincreasingevidencetoshowthatthebuildingofnewexpresswaysandroadswillnotonlytriggeroffmoreinducedtrafficbutalso116amoredispersedpatternofsettlementconducivetomoretravel(Banister1999;Noland&Lem2002).Thirdly,itisenvironmentallymoredesirablebecausetheheavyrelianceonprivateautomobilesfuelledbygasolineandthehabitofsolodrivingcontributesignificantlytoairpollution(Greene&Wegener1997).Fourthly,acitywithahealthyrelianceonpublictransportcanprovidemobilitytothosewhocannotdrive,theunder-aged,theelderly,thepoorandthoseincapableofdriving.Thiscontributestothesocialsus-tainabilityoft