The Beijing metro authorities have set limits on the number of passengers that can enter 32 stations during rush hours to prevent overcrowding of trains. But the subway authorities alone cannot solve the problem of overcrowding. Companies have to adjust their working hours, too, says an article in Beijing Times. Excerpts:

Overcrowding in subway trains is, in a way, similar to traffic jams in Beijing. Both are big problems.

During the morning rush hour, people travel from the outlying areas of the city toward downtown. The passenger flow reverses in the evening. The rush hour may be short, but the passenger flow it generates is so immense that the subway network cannot deal with it.

Trains are overcrowded during the rush hour because of unscientific city planning: concentration of commercial and business establishments in the city center and the same working hours they have. High real estate prices have pushed a lot of residents to the city's outlying areas, forcing them to commute daily to their workplaces in downtown. Even though commuters know that traveling during rush hour is a nightmare, they have no choice but to travel long distances to their workplaces at the same time.

Dividing the commuting time of office workers is a systematic project which requires staggering of the working hours of different offices and organizations and/or shifting some offices and organizations away from downtown.

It also requires scientific re-planning of the city, which can divide the rush hour into two or three periods so that employees can avoid the madness of traveling to and from work at the same time.

(China Daily 12/14/2011 page9)