Public Transportation

I know that I have mentioned in other blog entries about the long distance transportation in the form of cheap trains, and I will hit on that subject again in this blog.  However, I wanted to talk about what 'getting around' in China was like in our daily lives.  Because getting from point a to point b was not something I thought about when I was anxiously and haphazardly throwing together my life to go to China.

Before I get into the details, first let me say that there is a lot to love and hate about public transportation in China.  Let's talk about what goes in the love column.  I love how cheap public transportation is in China.  I love how convenient public transportation is in China--buses, subways, trains are coming and going regularly from about 6am to about midnight; and when they don't,there are taxis.  Now let's talk about things I hate about public transportation in China.  It's dirty, it's crowded, it is often times really slow, and it is not something easily understood when you first arrive.

So how do you get around in China?  For short distance trips around the city, the three main forms of transportation are buses, subways, and taxis.

Buses
Buses are probably the most confusing, but also the most convenient form of transportation in Hangzhou.  They are convenient because the bus systems in this city run pretty much non-stop from dawn until midnight, and they run all over the city.   Several buses routes overlap, so if one bus is too crowded, or you miss it by a few minutes, you can grab another bus and then transfer at a later stop.  I will warn  you, however; if you decide to take the bus, you are going to need to add an hour, minimum, to your trip; they are a readily available, but slow form of transportation.

The buses are also very cheap.  They range from 1-2 yuan per trip to up to 4 yuan (this is during the height of summer or winter, as you are paying for either the air conditioning or the heat, respectively).  If you do not want to be constantly fumbling in your pockets or purse for the very bus-convenient coin yuan, you can go down to a local transportation center and purchase a bus card.  You can put a couple hundred yuan on said bus card and then just scan it across the sensor as you get on the bus--very convenient.

The bad thing about buses, beyond being dirty and crowded and sort of slow, is how difficult it is to figure out the routes and the schedule.  The bus routes and street names are all in Chinese characters.  This means that, unless you are familiar with the written language when you arrive, you will not be navigating your city via bus until you learn some basics.  Or if you are like me, you won't be navigating the city until you find someone who can show you which routes you need, and then you memorize the symbols needed for the routes you use the most frequently.  I can honestly say that I never became a real expert at the buses.  Thankfully those I lived near and traveled with--mainly Olivia--were more than able to learn these bus routes and then explain them to me.  Repeatedly.  However, I do recommend you learn them (or make patient and knowledgeable friends) because it is a really convenient, comprehensive, and cheap way to get around town.

The Subway
Subways are fantastic.  I love them.  Yes they are loud and crowded, but after the slowness of the buses, they are a welcome and speedy form of transportation. Unfortunately, Hangzhou had only just opened part of their brand new subways system about a month before I left China, so my knowledge of Chinese subways extends only to when I visited other cities--namely Beijing and Shanghai.

Since subways tended to be located only in big, international cities, the subway maps and stops were in both English and Chinese, and they were written not only in Chinese characters, but also the much more comprehensible (for foreigners) pinyin. This meant they were a lot easier for the newly arrived foreigner to use than the bus routes.

Subways tend to be a bit pricier than bus routes, ranging from 2-3 yuan per ride to 11-12 yuan per ride, depending on distance.  The only exception to this is in Beijing, where every subway ride you take, regardless of distance, is 2 yuan; the capital is trying to encourage people to use the subways by making it affordable and thus helping to relieve the traffic congestion of cars and bicycles on the surface.  Another interesting aspect of the subway trains are the presence of beggars.  The subways, particularly in Shanghai, seem to be the place where the disenfranchised choose to set up camp.  They typically walk up and down the subway cars, playing and instrument or singing, trailed by a sick or disfigured colleague collecting money from people.  They are not really bothersome, but you will encounter them if you take the subway, so either have some change out for them or studiously avoid eye contact.

A slightly annoying part of the subway system is the security checks.  Each time you board the subway, you need to run your bags through a security scanner. If you are carrying a lot of stuff--you just went shopping, you are on your way to the airport, etc--this can sometimes be a pain in the butt. The other downside to the subway is how crowded it is.  It is a very popular form of transportation in the large cities, and during rush hour, it gets hectic.  You will find yourself push and shoving to get on the cars, and especially to claim a seat. If you are going a short distance, I recommend just standing.   However, if you are in a city with a subway, take advantage of it; its fast, easy to understand, and relatively clean.

The Taxi
Like many things in China, taxis are cheap--when you compare them to the price of taxis in cities in America.  However, when you compare the price of a taxi, say, to bus fare, you realize the taxi is much more expensive.  And if you are getting paid in Chinese currency, sometimes these cab fares can add up to be a large part of your monthly budget.  I do not recommend taking a taxi unless time constraints demand it, or you are sharing it with one or two other people.

That being said, taxis are a great way to get around the cities.  They are everywhere, so you never really have to wait, as you do with the buses.  A taxi ride in Hangzhou usually begins anywhere between 8-11 yuan, and goes up one yuan at a time as you travel.  Usually a fifteen to twenty minute drive will cost you about 30 yuan.  Which in USD is about 5 dollars; again, when you compare it to home, pretty cheap.

However, like the buses, taxis are not usually something you can jump right into upon your arrival without a little bit of help.  Your taxi drivers are not typically fluent in English beyond the "hello, how are you?"--sort of like most American's knowledge of Spanish.  So until you learn some basic street names or happen to have the address written down for you, you are going to need some help.  We relied very heavily on the foreign teachers who had been there for a couple of years.  We would call them when we got into the taxi, and have them tell the taxi driver, via phone, where we wanted to go.  Sometimes we would call Chinese teachers or some of our students to assist us in giving our taxi drivers directions. We would also buy copies of something called More Hangzhou, a periodical dedicated to expats, and had the addresses to many popular shopping districts, tourist attractions, and restaurants in English, Pinyin, and Chinese.  We would just open to the right page and point.  Eventually we learned the vocabulary for telling someone where we were going, along with several high frequency destinations or street names.

I will warn you to be careful of illegal taxis, which will charge you a lot more than 30 yuan per ride.  These will be either regular sedans with no meters, or taxi drivers who do not turn their meters on when you enter into the car.  If this happens, immediately tell them to stop and get out of the taxi (or, if you do not even see a meter, do not get into the taxi at all).  You will see taxis such as these around tourist areas, especially during rush hour--between 3:30 and 6:00pm--when it is almost impossible to find a taxi (seriously, do not be out looking for a taxi during this time).  However, if you are in a rush, and you cannot find a taxi willing to take you to your destination (this happens a lot during rush hour--the taxis do not want to go to certain parts of the city) you can try offering the taxi 50-100 yuan to take you there. You are out about 70 yuan more than the ride will cost you, but you don't have to keep walking up and down the street searching for another taxi, or bus, or something that will take you home.  In this case, the driver will not turn on the meter; you just fork over the 100 yuan when you reach your destination.

Bicycles and Rickshaws
Before I move on to the long distance forms of transportation, I want to talk about two final categories of city transportation found everywhere in China.  The first is the bicycle or moped.  I highly recommend buying the former, and equally as highly recommend you avoid the latter. China is a very cyclist friendly country and most roads have lanes dedicated to bicycles and mopeds.  A bicycle is a really great way to make yourself more mobile in the city without having to rely on public transportation.  Hangzhou was a huge city, and most of the places we went to regularly were only a few miles from our home--sometimes the bus would actually take longer to get there, what with all the stops, then it would to ride a bike.  You could walk it, but maybe it was cold, or you just didn't want to waste the time it would take to walk the distance.  A bike is a great solution to this, and we eventually did obtain bikes and used them all the time during warmer weather.  However, mopeds are dangerous; they go really fast, people zip between the cyclist lanes and the car lanes and the sidewalks.  Most car accidents in China revolve around mopeds, and so I would exercise extreme caution when riding one, or even when walking down the street while others are riding them.

The last form of short distance transportation I want to talk about is the rickshaw.  This is by far one of the coolest, and unique, kinds of transport available in China.  Now, I am not talking about a man pulling you in a contraption that is a cross between a carriage and a wagon (although in some touristy places, those do exists).  These are like the evolution of those hand pulled rickshaws.  These are typically little covered carts, with a cushioned bench(s) inside, attached to bicycles, some motorized, some not.  Some of them have even lost the cart-and-horse style entirely and drive what look like tiny, enclosed golf carts with the driver in a tiny compartment up front,and the passengers on benches in the back. In non-touristy areas, for distances between 1-2 miles, they typically charge you about 5 yuan, maybe 10.  I usually give in on the guys with the non-motorized bicycles--they are using nothing but their own muscles to haul my lazy self and my groceries the whole 3/4 mile to my apartment. For longer distances, you can barter with them for a fair price.

Okay so to our right is a nice summer rickshaw outside of the Forbidden city, center a veiw from the back while in transit, and to the left is what it looks like to be enclosed in one of the winter ones: 1 bench + 3 people = cramped accommodations and awkward photos.  

The terrifying thing about rickshaws is that they (not being a car, technically) weave between traffic on the road, in the cyclist lane, on the sidewalks like they are playing a game of real-life Mario Cart.  It is an exhilarating and often terrifying way to get from one place to another, but something you should do at least once while you are in China (or other countries that use this transportation).  I made my mom take one while she visited and she screamed the entire way to our destination, much to the delight of our driver.  It is one of my greatest regrets that I did not capture that ride on film.  However, below is a different rickshaw ride video, to give you some idea of what riding in one is like.

The ones featured on the left and right are the most common, but when it is raining or cold, we get ones like what's in middle or sides made from tarps are added to the ones pictured on the right and left to make them weather proof.

Of course, I found myself doing a lot of walking; many restaurants and shops were well within walking distances from my apartment.  And if you are wondering why I haven't mentioned driving, you have never seen Chinese traffic.  Driving a car in that country is not something I ever entertained doing, except perhaps in my nightmares.

Long Distance Transpo: Trains
The main form of long distance transportation that I want to discuss are the trains.  The train system in China is fantastic; you can literally get almost anywhere in China via train.  Additionally, there are levels to the quality, and corresponding price, of these trains. If you are traveling on a budget, you can choose to take a train that is really cheap.  However, the quality of said train and the duration of the trip is affected by the price.  The more expensive, the nicer the train, the shorter the trip.  The cheaper trains, the more people are crammed into the cars, the worse the seating is, and the trip is longer.  For example, when traveling to Beijing from Hangzhou (an 800  mile distance), you have the opportunity to take a 6 hour train ride, for about 100 USD; there are only two people to a row, the seats are exceedingly comfortable, and the train is climate controlled.  You can make the same trip for about 30 USD, it takes 15 hours, you are sitting in about a 5ft by 5ft space with five other people around a tiny table, and you might have air conditioning or heating.

While that might seem like a horrific experience, it is also a really cheap way to see a really huge country.  Olivia and I spent 2 weeks one summer taking trains all across China--from Hangzhou to Hunan Province, all the way up to Xi'an, and then back down to Hangzhou.  Some of our train rides were over 24 hours long.   But we had plenty of time, because it was summer vacation--and we did not have plenty of money.  This form of transportation allowed us to spend our money on the sights and places we were traveling to see, rather than how we got there.  It also lent the whole trip a greater sense of adventure. You can take trains from one end of China to another last upwards of 55 hours--it all depends on what you want/are able to spend and the experience you are willing to have.

The positive of these are obviously that they are cheap.  The negative is that they are long, but also very uncomfortable.  Sometimes they have standing room only, meaning that you do not have seats.  Even if you do have seats, you are going to be sitting while other people are jammed onto the train, milling about during the trip, or huddled into what little unused floor space is available.   While smoking is not allowed on the trains, the smokers will jump off the trains at the stops and stand very close to the doors (so as not to be left behind) while they smoke.  Meaning if you are anywhere near the doors, you will be experiencing intermittent clouds of smoke.  Also, unless you are a world class narcoleptic, it is nearly impossible to sleep for any length of time on one of these trains, and the quality of your sleep is not great.

However, like I said, the quality of the trip that you take depends entirely on the experience you want to have. You can take very nice trains; trains that go very fast, are very clean, and are very quiet.  Or, if you need to take one of the cheaper, longer trains, you can get beds.  The sleeper cars are kept dark, no matter what the time, and you don't need to be a sleep-study lab rat in order to pass out.  Although the sleeper cars do tend to sell out pretty fast.

These are the nice trains. They are one of the fastest ways to get around China.  The high speed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai takes about 40 minutes (compared to driving 3 hours) and costs about 12 USD. 

For those few places that don't connect directly to a train station, you can take the train to the nearest stop and then catch a long-distance bus; like a greyhound, but safer, to your final destination.  We did this once during a rather epic summer adventure; we took a 22 hour train to the nearest possible station, then a four hour bus to our final location.  The long distance buses also have a sleeper option--imagine a bus, but instead of seats are a bunch of cots.  I know, nothing about that seems safe.  I never had a cause to take one of these sleeper buses, and I find myself regretting it a bit.

Despite being loud and crowded, public transportation in China is so much more convenient than it is in America.  And while I desperately missed my car and missed driving while I was there, I miss equally how easy it was (once I learned a thing or two) to get around.