OPINION> Commentary
Decentralize ticket pricing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-02 07:47

To guarantee the interests of consumers, we should break the monopoly of railway market by State-owned enterprises, says an article in Yanzhao Evening Post. The following is an excerpt:

China is mulling over the market-oriented reform of railway ticket pricing. As the railway authorities said, the reform is expected to realize the aim of breaking even and making a small profit for railway enterprises.

But the operating costs for China's railway enterprises, which are State-controlled, have never been transparent and people are wondering whether the monopolized railway ticket pricing is based on the real operating costs. Meanwhile, State-owned railway enterprises usually feature low efficiency and high costs due to their monopolized position in the market.

So, only by breaking the monopoly of these railway enterprises and diversifying the railway runners can the operating costs of railways be lowered to benefit more consumers.

If the railway market is still monopolized by State-owned enterprises, the ticket reform under them will only help these enterprises run at a more wasteful and less efficient manner and harm the interests of consumers. Therefore, we should be on our guard against the unreasonable ticket price rise in the name of railway ticket reform.

(China Daily 12/02/2008 page8)