BEIJING, Oct. 16 -- The number of urban passenger trips in China jumped 15.6 percent year on year in the first eight months of this year, official data shows.

According to the Ministry of Transport, 61.85 billion passenger trips were made in China's urban areas during the period.

Specifically, the number of passenger trips handled by China's urban rail transit networks surged 43.4 percent year on year to 19.01 billion.

China's bus and tram network handled 26.76 billion passenger trips in the first eight months.

In the same period, passenger trips made via ferry services skyrocketed 94.5 percent from the same period last year, while those by taxi rose 7.4 percent, the data reveals.