Top transport a wild ride

Last month, Beijing was given a huge pat on the back by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - ranking the city as having the best transport - in its annual report on urban competitiveness. Beijing beat Shanghai and Hong Kong to win the title.

This intrigued me. I wondered how the rankings were done, and what constituted "transport" where the authors were concerned? Was it just the infrastructure, or did they include users of the system?

If it were just the infrastructure, I would tend to agree. I have not been to Shanghai but I've experienced Hong Kong's system - as well as those in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and my home city of Sydney. Against these cities, Beijing's infrastructure is certainly as good, if not better. But throw in the users - commuters - and Beijing would drop down the list quick smart.