BEIJING, Nov. 5 -- China's urban public transport logged robust growth in the first three quarters of this year, with the number of passenger trips jumping 16.7 percent year on year, official data showed.

During this period, 69.95 billion passenger trips were handled by the country's urban public transport system, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Specifically, passenger trips made via China's urban rail transit network soared 43 percent year on year to 21.49 billion, while those made through ferry services skyrocketed 86.5 percent to 63.03 million.

Bus and tram services handled 30.35 billion passenger trips in the first three quarters, up 7.3 percent from the same period last year.

The data also revealed that urban passenger trips by taxi rose 8.7 percent compared to a year earlier to reach 18.04 billion in the same period.