In December 2015, intercity bus No.812 from Wufeng to Yichang was opened. Overthe past five years, bustypes and departure time have been constantly changed to meet the demand. “Compared with the past, the departure schedule is more punctual, and the price is much cheaper,” said Ms. Hu, who works for a company in Yichang, when asked about her feelings about the bus a few days ago. “For people like us who often go back to Wufeng, we can save a lot of money every month.”
100% opening rate of intercity buses
At the early stage of the 13thFive-Year Plan, the development of intercity buses as a transportation product for people’s livelihood has been accelerated. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Government Work Reports of Yichang as well as the city’s transport work conferences have mapped out plans for this.
As early as 2014, the first inter-city bus, No. 808 fromYichang to Xingshan, opened. Within one week of its opening, the daily passengers had increased from an average of 300 people/day to an average of 2,000, and the daily transport volume during peak hours reached 3,000 people. The operation of unlicensed taxis basically stopped due to the improvement of passenger transport.
“The continuous extension of the high-grade highways network has also laid a foundation for the opening of intercity buses.” According to Li Zhonghua, director of the Municipal Highway Construction and Maintenance Center, during the 13thFive-Year Plan period, Yichang’s highway fully played the role of trunk highways, with a total of 161km of first-level highway and 353km of second-level highway completed, ranking the top among cities and autonomous prefectures in Hubei.
By the end of 2020, all counties in Yichang have realized “entering the highway in half an hour”. Yichang has been connected with major first-level highways in central and eastern regions and major second-level highways in the western region. Counties are connected with national highways and towns with provincial highways. The total mileage of roads has reached 34,000 km, ranking the first in Hubei; the mileage of first- and second-level highways ranks the first in Hubei with 3,307 km; national and provincial trunk mileage ranks the third with 3,153 km.
Since the opening of intercity buses from Yichang to Yidu and Yichang to Xingshan in 2014, intercity buses have maintained a good momentum of development, adding one new line a year: Yichang to Wufeng and Yichang to Changyang intercity buses in 2015, Yichang to Yuan’an intercity bus in 2016, Yichang to Zigui intercity bus in 2017, Yichang to Zhijiang and Dangyang intercity buses in 2018. The targeted goal of 100% intercity bus coverage in Yichang has been realized, and “half an hour commuter circle, one hour metropolitan area” has formed.
About 100 million yuan saved for passengers
Since the opening of the first intercity bus, Yichang Transportation has been constantly innovating its operation mode, which greatly improved the reputation of Yichang Transportation as a brand with its characteristics of “large capacity, low fare, high density and bus mode.”
To meet the needs of passengers,Yichang Transportation continuously improves its service quality with high and complete insurance, high-performance transportation vehicles, professional driver teams, and better travel efficiency. Compared with the previous bus lines, the average ticket price is 40% lower. Conservatively estimated, each intercity bus will reduce the travel cost of citizens by more than 10 million yuan.
During the 13thFive-Year Plan, Yichang Transportation has invested more than 270 new luxury buses in the constructionof intercity bus lines, and the annual passenger transfer has reached 7 million, benefiting more than 2.8 million people along the lines and saving nearly 100 million yuan of travel cost for passengers. Yichanghas realized the integration of urban and rural transportation in a real sense, and the new convenient, smooth and orderly urban and rural transportation service system in western Hubei has also been further improved. (Omnimedia Reporter ofSanxia Daily: Yan Xiaodong, correspondent: Yao Qian, Liao Chengchen)