The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

China is bullish on subways (underground mass transit, not the sandwich shops):

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303482504579177830819719254

Twenty years ago, China's Communist Party leadership earmarked money for an expressway network modeled on the U.S. interstate highway system. A decade ago, they spent big on bullet trains.

As a fresh team of Chinese leaders gathers this week in Beijing to lay out broad economic goals, the effort to keep China moving has shifted underground, with dozens of cities spending billions of dollars on subway systems.

… party leaders indicate that metros are different: They create more sustainable growth by making cities more livable…

In the world's most extensive subway-development effort, at least 26 Chinese cities are constructing or expanding lines, according to the government's Transportation Technology Development and Planning Research Center.

…China's new leaders are increasingly focusing on urbanization, including smarter cities. From an increasingly prosperous citizenry, they face pressure to reduce air pollution, provide housing that is cheap but livable and to unlock consumer spending. Metros dovetail with these quality-of-life challenges because they provide an alternative to cars and add convenience to life at the edges of big cities.

According to the McKinsey consulting firm, China has enough large cities to justify having 100 subway systems, eventually.