Two-yuan subway fare and 40-cents bus fare for the whole journey-this is why the citizens in Shenzhen and Shanghai envy the ticket prices in Beijing. However, contrary to the public voice that Shenzhen and Shanghai metro systems want to learn that from Beijing, public transport in Beijing may also have to enter the age of charging by mileage.

According to information spread on July 16, the special investigation about Beijing transportation economic statistics, conducted by Beijing municipal transportation committee is currently underway. It is said that the investigation that will last till the end of the year will become the credential of raising metro and bus price in Beijing. As to this, relevant sources in Beijing municipal committee of communications also said that the issue of raising price is still under discussion and will not be decided until all the survey results come out.

Now, let us look back to 2007 when Beijing metro and bus lines began to carry out the preferential policy that adults could get a discount of 60% and children 80% if they use a special magnetic public transport card. Most of the bus lines only charged 40 cents for an adult, and the subway followed the policy of charging two yuan for all lines. Over the past six years, the subway fares in Shenzhen have been floating with the market for many times, and the highest price has surpassed ten yuan. Under this circumstance, Beijing still held its standard of charging only two yuan, which brought Beijing such beautiful titles as "benefiting the people", "public welfare", but billions yuan of losses and a heavy baggage of 17 billion yuan subsidies as well.

While the discussions about raising subway fares in Shenzhen and Shanghai came to a climax, many commentators cited the examples of Beijing subway, arguing that even though the traffic operation should take gains and losses in the market into consideration, there still exist the operation mode of traffic "with public function" that cities such as Beijing has fully reflected, and calling for cities in the whole country to follow Beijing as an example in using public resources. With the heavy hat of benefiting all people, Beijing traffic faces a "moral" impediment every time it has a slight attempt of raising the price, making the price of subway depart from market conditions and become actually under the control of plans.

Generally, any price escaping from market pricing mechanism is not sustainable and is dangerous. The sense of benefiting people that it brings is mostly imaginary.

This is because this kind of "benefiting the people" is one-size-fits-all policy. It is true that vulnerable groups get benefits, but the rich (relatively) get as well. The best way is to give the pricing right to the market, and at the same time, give traffic subsidies directly to vulnerable groups.

Besides the problem of raising metro and bus ticket prices, other problems such as water and electricity prices should also be like this. Neither general "insurance" nor one-size-fits-all "raising" has distinguished the group that is sensitive to raising price from the group that is non-sensitive to raising price, which would give people an illusion that all get benefited or all get damaged, making the market-oriented reforms difficult. In this context, every fee increase would get public antipathy, and any reform that is absolutely beneficial in the long run would always encounter heavy resistance.

Raising prices of Beijing metro and bus prices is just news about local people's livelihood; however, it has drawn wide attention. This is largely because there are problems of how to deal with market rules and social welfare hidden behind the matter. With reform being carried out, the universal welfare concept that is corresponding to the previous planning model will be deconstructed, and the welfare consciousness that matches the market rules will take its place. There would be a long time of hesitation and pain during this transition, but the oddity that the company has to rely on government subsidies to maintain its goal of benefiting the people of all levels will surely not last long.