Cheap bus, subway fares 'to remain'

The people of Beijing can look forward to low fares on buses and the subway long after the Olympics has finished, a senior city official said yesterday.

"The current low ticket prices are not just for the duration of the Games ... they will remain in place for a considerable time afterward," Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director of the Beijing municipal committee of communications, told a press conference.

Keeping prices down is a good way to encourage people to use public transport and will help reduce the numbers of cars on the roads, which in turn will cut emissions, he said.