Chinese city debuts 'bus-pooling' service

The Chinese capital Beijing is hoping to put an end to the frustrations of disgruntled bus passengers complaining about long waiting times, by introducing "public bus-pooling" to the city.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper, the local public transport authority is setting up a "quasi door-to-door" bus service, that will enable passengers to go online and detail what their individual needs are for a bus journey.

It says that it will focus on serving large, residential communities, with the aim of providing bus routes more catered to where there are large groups of people, rather than serving existing stops and making people sit through a pre-defined route.

It is also hoping to make the service safe by helping passengers find others to travel with, should they be concerned about making journeys alone.

Beijing Youth Daily says: "in future, the public will expect buses to arrive like a car, and that they will meet the personalised needs of passengers".

The paper estimates that some 8.5m people travel by bus in the city per month.

But bus journeys in the city can be frustrating, given that Beijing is the second most congested city in the country. Despite bus lanes, traffic jams are common, and the new scheme could go some way towards alleviating snarls.

You might also be interested in:

Media reports have not specified when the scheme will start, but it could offer an immediate solution to passengers who are unable to use taxi-hail services following a nationwide crackdown.

On 11 September, China ordered the indefinite suspension of leading taxi-hail app Didi Chuxing, after the murder of two people who used its services.

The authorities are carrying out an investigation into similar taxi-hail apps, and are looking at ways to ensure passengers have better safety measures in place when using their services.

Reporting by Kerry Allen

Next story: Uzbek row over 'short skirts' in school

Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.