Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said Sunday that priority should be given to the development of public transport in big cities.

Zeng made the remarks when visiting public transport workers Sunday morning in Beijing. He said that public transport is beneficial for improving the efficiency of traffic resources and ease up traffic jams.

Accompanied by local officials, Zeng went to the Wangfujing Station of the subway and the station of the 111 Bus Route in Chongwenmen to visit public transport staff who are still on duty during the Spring Festival holiday.

He extended festival greetings to public transport workers and asked about their working and living conditions, encouraging them to improve service quality and make more contributions to the city's public transport.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2006)