BEIJING — China reported a year-on-year decline in passenger trips in its urban transit networks in March, official data showed.

The country's urban transit lines, running through 51 cities, handled a total of 1.6 billion passenger trips last month, down 26.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Transport.

On a monthly basis, however, the volume was 2.6 percent higher than the previous month.

By the end of March, China had 273 urban rail transit lines in operation, with the total length reaching 8,837 km, the ministry said.