In Jingjiang – a county-level city administered by Taizhou city, in East China's Jiangsu province – a new policy is granting free bus rides to residents aged 70 and above.
Since the start of the year, Jingjiang has been enhancing its overall public service system, improved the public transportation system and introduced free rides on public buses for seniors.
To date, nearly 30,000 public transport cards designed for the elderly have been registered and issued in the city, with about 7,000 individuals now benefiting from the free bus rides every day.
One of them is Ju Canrong from Pufu village, who gleefully received his public transport card on July 10. "It used to cost me 4 yuan ($0.55) for a one-way trip to downtown and 8 yuan for a round trip," he said.
"Now, it's all free! I can visit town more often and check out what's new," Ju added.
Currently, there are 47 bus routes in Jingjiang – 15 urban routes, 22 urban-rural routes, seven town-village routes, two adjacent bus routes, along with a tourist special line.
Moving forwards, plans are for Jingjiang to further improve its card-swiping system, allowing those aged 70 and above to ride gratis by swiping their ID or social security cards.
What's more, additional measures will be taken to ensure the safety and comfort of special passenger groups by optimizing bus routes, schedules and station settings.