Shared cars at rail station ease crunch

One of China's busiest high-speed train stations has partnered with four car-sharing companies to help people get home during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Tens of millions of Chinese began hitting the road on Thursday to return home ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year, which this year falls on Feb 16, marking the start of the annual 40-day travel peak.

In preparation for the mass migration, Guangzhou South Railway Station introduced a program to encourage more passengers to complete their journey in shared cars, which, like shared bikes, can be used after simply scanning a QR code with an app.

The station, which handles most high-speed rail services arriving to and departing from the southern metropolis, has allocated space in its three parking lots for vehicles from Beijing Automotive Group, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, Guangzhou Transportation Group and Guangzhou Weiba Passenger Transport Co Ltd. Most are electric-powered models.

Computer programmer Pan Jiangpeng, 27, and his girlfriend stepped off the bullet train from Shenzhen on Saturday to start the last leg of their journey home, about 40 kilometers away.

Instead of squeezing into a packed subway car, the couple headed straight to a garage on the station's ground floor, where 51 brandnew e-cars were parked.

"It would cost us more than 100 yuan ($15) if we took a taxi home, but a shared car is cheaper and more convenient," Pan said as he scanned a QR code on one of the cars. It unlocked a moment later with a quiet click.

With several companies fighting for a share of this nascent market, heavy discounts are being offered to new users. Pan said he expected his ride home to end up costing just 20 yuan.

The four companies will keep a minimum of 300 cars at the station during the travel rush, according to information from the station's management office. Depending on the app and model of vehicle, users are required to pay a deposit of 1,000 to 4,000 yuan, and then 0.5 to 1.2 yuan a minute or 183 to 435 yuan a day.

More than 5.4 million journeys are expected to be made by train to and from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, during the travel rush. Meanwhile, an estimated 65 percent of rail passengers arriving or departing Guangzhou South Railway Station will use the city's subway network.

Since Thursday, when the program was launched, the station's shared cars have been used an average 500 times a day, according to the China Railway Guangzhou Group. Chen Guisheng, a senior official with the group, said in addition to scanning the QR code on arrival, passengers also can book a car before they arrive.

"Passengers tend to get worried if delays happen, but with the car-sharing service they can leave for home even after the public transportation stops running," he said, adding that some 700 parking lots are spread across the city for users to return the shared cars.

Chen said first-time users need to scan the QR code to download an app, submit ID card information, pay a deposit and get faces scanned before unlocking a car - a process he say could be completed in a couple of minutes. Users also can finish the registration via the station's WeChat account, he said.

The station has the infrastructure to support the initiative. The three parking lots have more than 1,100 parking spaces and 100 charging facilities, Chen said.