Local governments should offer more aid to bus companies to develop public transportation, says a commentary in Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

One of the country's most famous tourist cities, Xiamen, in Fujian Province, is now confounding tourists. Today, the city names its bus stops after hospitals or shopping malls that are willing to pay.

Similar practices take place in other cities, such as Changsha, in Hunan Province, and Hefei, in Anhui Province.

The public has complained about the commercialization of bus stop names. It said the practice creates confusion about bus stop locations among both tourists and residents.

The bus stops should be named after the roads, avenues or nearby landmark buildings to make their locations clear. Obviously, these bus stop names are changed to garner revenue for the bus companies.

According to reports, the bus company in Xiamen runs on an annul deficit of 30 million yuan (US$3.85 million), which partly justifies the commercialization of bus stop names.

So, the local government should offer proper subsidies to these companies to support public services.

However, a survey by the Ministry of Construction says that 42 of the 117 urban bus companies did not get a penny of subsidy from local governments in 2006.

When bus companies serve the public with low-priced transportation, they are unable to generate enough return from the service. If the government does not give them enough money, they have little choice but to open bids for the names of bus stops.

The central government issued a document in 2006 emphasizing that the development of public transportation should be a priority. Local governments should earmark more money for this.

(China Daily May 9, 2007)