People-oriented metro planning needed in Beijing

Beijing has the oldest metro system in China.

Beijing is going to start building six new subway lines by the end of this year to help ease traffic congestion in the Chinese capital. But after a recent string of signal malfunctions that stranded many commuters, questions remain about their ability to provide citizens with an efficient, comfortable ride.

In search of an easier commute. On Tuesday, the Beijing metro management authority announced its decision to construct six new subway lines.

The city is notorious for its traffic congestion.

And operation snags have made things worse.

During the Monday morning rush hour, a signal malfunction delayed several trains on line 5.

It was the seventh time in October.

Yao Dongmei is an urban planning expert from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. She agrees that better design and management are needed.

"Generally speaking, the development of Beijing's metro system has lagged far behind the city's urbanization. So it can't meet the needs of the city commuters. That's why the subway congestion problem is getting worse. We need to improve the future subway design as well as the metro management to provide people an easy and comfortable underground commute." said Yao Dongmei.

Beijing has the oldest metro system in China.

Its first line opened in 1969. Today it has 17 lines, more than 200 stations, and around 450 kilometers of track.

But it's a major challenge to fit a modern metro system into an ancient city.

There has been a wide range of criticisms on the city's subway system not being people-oriented enough. Now the government's challenge going forward is to have a sound planning for future subway construction so that people can have a convenient, and more importantly, comfortable commute.