A proposal to display subway information at bus stops as an aid to commuters planning their journeys may be put on the back burner due to its high cost and the logistical problems involved.

Sun Jianping, director of the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority, told members of the Shanghai People's Congress on Saturday that the authority welcomed the idea.

"If the current trial run goes well, we will consider adding more of these signs to other bus stops," he said.

But a director at the Public Transportation Department of the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority Sunday told the Global Times that, while the plan is currently under a small trial run, the project is likely to come to a standstill as it is too costly.

However, the director, who preferred not to be named, was unable to provide an estimation of how much the project would cost.

The plan was first proposed by Pei Zhen, a deputy member of Shanghai People's Congress, in February. He is pushing for the project be completed as soon as possible to give daily commuters and tourists greater convenience when planning their routes.

"If the municipal government wants to do this, they can," he told the Global Times Sunday. "They have enough money."

Pei has rejected a compromise that would involve subway information being added to bus stops as and when the signs require scheduled updates, because he feels the process would be too slow.

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