The inadequacies of Guangzhou Metro's new lines became a hot issue at this "NPC and CPPCC". Li Zilian, a Guangzhou CPPCC member, suggested a straightforward proposal that the efficiency of metro lines would need to be improved so as to make them into real "accelerators" for Panyu District and Nansha District to help attract excellent talent and foreign investments.

Li Zilian's "diagnosis" of the Metro Lines 3 and 4 includes: the average speed per hour is very slow; the staying time at each station is too long (about 2 minutes), similar to that of buses, to ease the traffic congestion on the ground; the stop reporter is too quiet to be heard; the transfer indicators are not clear enough for passengers to find their exact lines; the passenger handrails are too high; the waiting time is too long, currently 12 minutes for a train on the Metro Line 3. The running time ends too early, currently the last train is at 9:00PM; there are no bus connections to the metro stations in many remote areas, as for the bicycles, there are no convenient places to put them. In addition, some citizens also believe the charges are on the high side.

According to Guangzhou Metro, as a mass transportation tool, the metro employs complicated technologies and equipment, which requires a period of time for system debugging and equipment break-in at its initial stages. Although, the big problem currently is that the total number of trains is inadequate. Due to the fact that the new trains need a period of time to be manufactured, some of the contracted trains have not been delivered yet. With the gradual breaking in of these systems and the delivery of new trains, it is expected that the running interval will be cut down by several degrees, while the running time will be prolonged in the latter half of this year.

It has been mentioned that the current daily passenger flow has reached several hundred thousand since the opening of Metro Lines 3 and 4. The full load of the Metro Lines 3 & 4 is 941 & 972,respectively, being far from the "overloaded" standard of 9 passengers per square meter. And during such holidays as New Year's Day, the Operation Headquarters of Guangzhou Metro will also take measures to ease the passenger flow.

Editor: Donald