A Chinese City Public Transport Unable to Pay Salary and Stopped Operation

According to a reported, in August 12th, Dancheng county public transport company in Zhoukou city, Henan Province, had issued a notice that all public traffic would stop running. It said as the public transport company is faced with extreme financial difficulty. However, this notice had been deleted moments after its release.

 In the evening of 12th August, one staff of the company confirmed the news’ authenticity on Wechat. The employee said “it has stopped yesterday. As people continuing called to inquire about it. So, the company formally released the news today.” The reason to stop running public transport is due to shortage of cash, and the company has several months undue payment of staff salary. The cost of running a public bus per day will need at least 200 Yuan, but each bus can only earn a few dozen Yuan per day. The company cannot make ends meet, resulting to cease of operation.

 According to local media, the company’s staff said the local government had pledged to offer subsides to the company, but it is still not being fulfilled yet. Currently the fund of running the company has paid by staff’s salary. They cannot afford to pay it furthermore, leading to a complete shutdown of their business.

 On August 13th, Dancheng Public Transport Company announced to resume operation of several bus lines. Although the buses resumed operation, it is still subject to change because salary is still not paid fully.

 On January20th, a video of Donghong, the county top official, caused intensive concern on the internet. The video showed that Donghong said on a meeting, that “anyone who try to return from mid-high-risk (COVID) districts, regardless of your vaccination status or PCR test result, you will be required quarantine first, then detention.