Actually a much simpler way could have been adopted to notify drivers. Just a large sign on the lintel of the tollgate: "One-way toll charge; please keep your receipt for a free pass for your return trip."

It is hard to escape the conclusion that the current notices were put there deliberately so that they could be missed.

If the elusive notices are not enough proof of the company's deliberate intention to overcharge customers, its insistence on charging drivers who return from the airport fully attests to its dishonesty, for all its staff members at the booths facing the traffic from the airport are fully aware that the majority of drivers who come from that direction paid the toll when they passed the gate heading to the airport, yet they fail to mention the free pass.

So it's natural to ask of the toll collectors: "Why didn't you mention the pass?" Which is exactly what the SDTV reporter asked when she tried to test the reaction of a CEDC member. The man turned a deaf ear to the question but an official from the company's "supervision center" replied that the company "had no obligation" to verbally remind drivers. "It is impossible," the official said, "for our staff members to ask 'do you have a receipt?' to every passing driver."

Is the CEDC a government organization? If it is, how can it cheat the public this way? If it is not: Who gave it the right to make such profits out of a public facility?

In either case, the government department concerning road administration owes the public an explanation.

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily. E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page8)