How to finance city mass transit railway (MTR) incorporating local spatial and policy conditions is a huge concern for sustainable transit priority development. Given the road congestion and air pollution in urban China, the central government has released considerable policies to encourage local governments to meet certain fiscal and population requirements to plan and construct MTR. Financial institutions, innovative policies and potential limitations of MTR under China’s spatial and policy context, however, are often lacking. As there is no “one-size-fits-all” financial strategy in urban China, to understand the initiatives, models and progress of MTR in different Chinese cities could play a significant role in addressing inadequate financial sources. To fill this knowledge gap, an institutional framework is used to understand Chinese MTR financial characteristics by examining several typical cases. Current problems and further implications for China’s MTR financial practices are further discussed.

CICTP