Beijing officials are considering removing flat rate subway fares and have recently released an outlined ticket fare matrix for the Chinese capital based on stop numbers and distance.

The Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission made the announcement on Wednesday following a thorough discussion that had resulted in the end of the flat rate subway fare era.

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The Chinese city is currently imposing a flat rate subway fare without any limit in transfers with a single ride costing only two yuan, which is equal to 32 cents. This means that the fare is fixed no matter how far the passenger travels to.

According to the agency, the current flat rate fare, which was established over seven years ago, is nowhere near the cost of daily operations.

The planned increase public transportation fare was prompted by the exploding population in the city, as well as major losses in the sector for the past years.

A public hearing is set for a later date though details will be released 15 days ahead.

In July, the local government had surveyed and collected necessary data on how the public would react to the change in fare pricing and had promised that the new price will not go over that of other cities in the country.

Authorities also plan to impose discounts for daily commuters while elders, students, soldiers and differently-abled passengers will be provided with preferential policies.

The city government also vowed to continue subsidizing the public transportation system as passengers taking subways increased 350 percent as compared with the statistics recorded in 2007, reaching more than 3 billion last year.

Subsidies have also shot up from 2010's 13.5 billion yuan to 20 billion yuan in just two years.

If approved, the proposed change in public transportation fares would be the fifth since 1991, as the latest reform was passed seven years ago when bus tickets were trimmed down to as low as four jiao (six U.S. cents) and two yuan for subway tickets.

Tagsflat rate, subway, transport, fare, increase