Transportation issues in focus at SMPC

More than one-third of the written suggestions that the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress (SMPC) delegates submitted this year focused on transportation issues, the SMPC Standing Committee said Wednesday.

The Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission received 36 written suggestions from the delegates, the most that any government agency received at this year's meeting, according to the standing committee. The commission oversees public transportation in the city.

"The figures show that the delegates have focused more on issues that affect residents' everyday lives, such as health and transportation," said Zheng Haisheng, vice director of the personnel and representation committee of the SMPC Standing Committee.

The municipal government should spend more of the money that it receives from the monthly vehicle registration auction on subsidizing public transportation, said Li Feikang, an SMPC delegate from Huangpu district.

Li submitted a similar written suggestion last year. He received a response from the transportation authority, but has continued to push for his ideas because he has not seen any concrete changes.

"After I reviewed the local government's budget figures, I found that it collects about 8 billion yuan ($1.32 billion) each year from vehicle registration auctions," Li told the Global Times. "This money is used to subsidize free public transportation for senior citizens and the transfer fare discount scheme. The remainder should be spent on reducing fare prices for everyone."

Residents who live on the city's outskirts can spend more than 10 yuan on their commutes each day, which is not a small sum of money for low-income families, Li said.

The SMPC Standing Committee delivered 399 of the 561 written suggestions submitted to the relevant government departments by office time Tuesday.

The departments will respond to the written suggestions over the next few months.

The standing committee will urge the departments to heed some of the written suggestions, as one of the SMPC's duties is to monitor the government departments, the committee said.