Well, I thought that since we leave Beijing tomorrow morning, it would be a good time to wrap this city up with a little ode to the transit here. I should first mention, though, that we did finally get train tickets to Datong today (woot. Apparently, FIFTH time's the charm), so that's where we're headed for the next couple of days. Though I'm sure there's readily available internet somewhere nearby in town, I probably won't go looking for it, so you're likely not going to hear a peep out of me til we hit Xian by O/N train.
It hasn't been quite long enough here to really feel settled in, but it's been wonderful. Any longer and I think I'd want to be living here proper instead of living quasi-tourist-like in the hostel.
Oh, and before I begin, I should also add a disclaimer... This is probably going to be an almost stupidly detailed post, so if you have no interest in things like buses and transit and traffic and the like, you might just want to stop here. For those of you with keener bus-love like me, and enjoy detailed description (ie. this is for you, Lap Kei, you with your "and then the door opened, and there were two steps, and I walked in, and the door closed with a whooshing sound"), then... hoorah. It begins:
WALKING:
So, much of my time in Beijing has been spent as a pedestrian, and having lived in Vancouver and complained heartily about the silly non-jaywalking that goes on there (being a proper skittering sort of Ontario pedestrian myself, and not assuming that traffic will stop at unmarked non-intersections for me), Beijing has been quite the experience.
You know how I've complained about the disorderly non-queueing that exists here? Crossing the street feels a little like that. Although vehicles do follow traffic signals, that's about the only actual rule that seems to exist. That is, NO ONE has the right-of-way. So, when crossing an 8 lane street, it's up to you and a veritable sea of other pedestrians to negotiate with the right-turning AND left-turning bikes, pedicabs, taxis, and buses to cross. You see that green "walk" signal ahead of you? All that means is that orthogonal traffic is stopped. It does NOT in any way mean that there is no traffic. In fact, sometimes, it's easier to cross when it's a red/don't cross signal.
Being used to reasonably strict right-of-way rules myself, I wondered when I first got here how no one seems to die while crossing the road. Or at least why no one has yet lost any toes.... But somehow, with a large amount of honking from the motor vehicles and hearty bell-dinging from the cyclists, everyone manages to get across the road. In one piece. You just start walking until honked at (translation: "I am about to run you over if you do not halt so I can turn in front of you"), then slow down or stop briefly, and then continue to swim through traffic. It's not unusual at all to see a veritable SEA of taxis, bicycles and pedestrians just stopped in the middle of an intersection as everyone negotiates who's turn it is to pass. After two weeks here, I think I'm actually quite comfortable with it, and have found myself in the sea, alone, even, from time to time. Back home, I'd never consider crossing the street with a bus turning 6 inches away from me (you think I exaggerate? No, no. It's actually close enough that I would probably have my foot run over if I put one of my feet in front of the other.), but here, it's completely normal. Sort of a weird feeling actually, having a moving bus half a foot from your face, knowing you can't move backward because there's another bus or cab turning behind you.
The streets themselves have quite a neat design, at least the major ones do -- The middle lanes are through lanes, but then there's a small median or divider, and then the two curbside lanes are for right-turning vehicles and cyclists (cyclists being the curbside lane). There are usually, on the very large streets, underground pedestrian crossings (lit generally only at night, which is occasionally a little eerie) or bridges as well, which may also be another reason why pedestrians seem to survive against all odds. There are also traffic guys at some of these big intersections, who wave red flags and have whistles to blow. But people don't seem to pay them much attention, unless very specifically being yelled at (as in the case of the cycling woman I saw going diagonally across the 8 lane 4-way intersection), and they don't seem to be consistently stationed at given intersections, so I haven't entirely figured out their purpose in life.
The sidewalks are wide and wonderful and treed on most main streets, with a few detours where the sidewalk mysteriously ends, and the alleyways are always nifty to wander through as a detour. But, Beijing being the huge city it is, walking will really only get you so far... Which brings me to...
SUBWAY
Currently consisting of 3 different subway lines (Y3 for line 1 and 2, which go east-west and in a big loop, respectively, and Y5 to transfer to line 13, which goes in a big loop up to the north of Beijing -- suburbs-ish), the subways are fabulous. They announce every stop, go speedily everywhere, fit tons of people, and ... well, they're subways. I love them almost inherently. The only real 'adventure' involved herein is (a) getting on or off at a transfer station is always a fight to get through a CROWD of people shoving their way in/out at the door, and (b) figuring out which exit (of 4) to get out at is sometimes more of a challenge than expected, as each exit lists major roads and landmarks, as well as a couple of bus routes found there, but as the exits aren't always at the readily predictable 4 corners of a main road, sometimes, poking your head out of the subway is super-disorienting. I've spent a reasonable amount of time after each subway ride asking the random folk around where the bus stop I'm looking for is. Because it's never RIGHT there.
BUSES
Mostly single-decker (only the #5 seems to have a double-decker consistently), but of really nifty design. There are some trolleys as well, but sort-of hybrid trolleys, which run on wires where they exist, and detach and run independently everywhere else. I've yet to see one reattach itself (though I did spend a good amount of time walking up and down a particular block trying to witness this event, since I saw detached buses at one end of the street, and attached ones later on, so they must have some transition!), so I'm unsure if this is a conductor-assisted task, or if the buses can do it themselves. This would be something the Translink buses might love, considering the number of times I've been on a Van bus that's fallen off the wires during a turn, forcing the driver to exit and reattach the poor de-electrified trolley.
For most buses you get on at the front, and off at the rear, just like in Canada -- but with the expanded accordion buses (you know, like the 98 or 99 B-lines in Van or the 95 or 97 in Ottawa or whatever equivalent you choose), there are three doors, none of which is immediately next to the driver. The middle of these is where you exit, while the other two are both entry doors, and both have a corresponding conductor associated with it.
So, that's another thing about Beijing buses. Every bus has a driver, who drives as well as opens and closes the front and rear doors, as well as one or two conductors, who collect fares, call out stops (on buses that don't do it automatically, or for smaller stops in between), and mostly keep track of the passengers. The conductor has got his or her (usually a her -- I'd say 90% of the time, if not more) own little seat, as well as a small walled-off (with metal poles, like the kind you hold onto when standing, but horizontal) area that they can walk back and forth in to take fares and call out things. When the bus isn't packed (which is rare on the main routes, especially during rush hour -- if anyone complains about how packed a given 99 or something is back home, I invite them to take Beijing transit sometime.), they sometimes come out of this little cubby hole and walk to the back of the bus as well, allowing you to sit down before you pay. Fares are variable, depending on the bus, but most are Y1 or Y1.50, and some actually vary depending on how far you travel on a given bus, so you have to tell the conductor what stop you'll be getting off at.
I only actually figured out this variable fare thing because we took one bus that we had to pay Y1.50 for to the Summer Palace... But the neat thing about that was that I then learned that their bus/transit passcards must also be some sort of declining balance system, instead of an unlimited monthly pass. They have to scan their card when they get on the bus, or enter the subway station, but on variable fare buses, they also have to scan again when they exit, thus tracking how far they went, and subtracting the appropriate amount from their card.
The conductors also tend to lean out the window as the bus pulls up to stops, shouting out where the bus is going, answering questions before folk actually get on. No one actually talks to the driver. They also shout out once everyone's on, or once everyone's off at the back doors, telling the driver to close the doors and leave. It's funny hearing the differences between different people doing this, as some just shout out "men" (literally, "door" -- though with the Beijing accent, it comes out sounding somewhat more aking to "mehr"), and others say "zou le" (as in "go"). There are no bells to ring for passengers to say when they want to get off. You just sort of get up when you're near your stop, and the conductor tells the driver to stop to let you off. Or sometimes the conductor will shout (or in a normal, quiet speaking voice) about what stop is next, and ask everyone if anyone wants off... If no one answers, we drive past without stopping.
The buses, at least the single ones, are designed to fit almost entirely standing passengers, with room for about 12 seats in the back (back row, plus two rows with a double and single), and then a row of front-facing singles up the side, and then two sideways facing benches of three at the front. This leaves enormous amounts of aisle room compared to canadian transit, and the poles are well spaced for holding on. There's also a horizontal bar across the windows at about chest height, which is designed to allow one set of people to hold on very close to the seated passengers, while a second layer piles in behind and holds onto the higher ceiling bars (like those in Canada). Granted, all this design is somewhat moot in rush hour, when there are enough people in the bus that you wouldn't be able to fall over even if you wanted to. Personal space is not an option.
Because buses are so packed, conductors tend to announce the next stop immediately after leaving a given stop, to give people lots of time to get to the back doors to exit. Some buses also announce this automatically, as well as saying "move on back" and "if you don't have a card, buy your ticket", over and over again. During rush hour, the major stops also have conductor-type ground-crew at stop, that flag down buses, and wave them to leave once everyone's on board. I suppose that the conductors are otherwise occupied at the time.
Finally, the last highlight, which is a big one for me, having ranted about this in Vancouver for some time now... The bus stops are WONDERFUL. Unlike Vancouver stops, which frequently give no information other than "BUS STOP", leaving you no idea of what bus is coming, when, or where it will take you, or even unlike Ottawa stops, which occasionally list an out of date schedule in addition to route numbers.... Beijing bus stops (I mean ALL bus stops), have separate signs for every bus that stops there. The sign states the route number, the fare (and whether it varies, and what distance or stop the rate increase occurs), the first and last bus (although no frequency info... they seem to all run exceedingly often though), AND, best of all, EVERY SINGLE stop that the bus makes. There might be a few along the same road that aren't listed explicitly, but essentially, you can look at a bus sign and decide if it'll take you where you want to go. Very cool.
OTHER TRANSIT
So, that's pretty much all I've taken. There are also SEALOADS of taxis, pedicabs (motorized three-wheeled bike-like things with a single backward facing seat on the back of it, which will fit one, or occasionally two people), bike-rickshaws, scooters (Brook, I even saw a guy in a tux scootering through the city... Not perhaps a traditional 007 mode-of-transit, but I can see it happening. ;) ), and bikes. Lots of bikes, mostly with baskets in front. Actually, I saw an excellent sight this morning -- a middle-aged man, cycling past on a yellow and pretty pink bicycle, wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt and aviators while talking on his cell-phone and smoking. Except for the smoking bit, I thought it was pretty cool. Actually, come to think of it, I think the cell-phone was a bit stupid too, but somehow, it (and the cigarette, I suppose), made the image that much more brilliant. I never thought of pink bikes and the grateful dead as much of a pair.
Anyway... that's getting around Beijing for you. =) It gives me much glee. Now off to much smaller cities than this (basically everywhere until I finally hit Shanghai at the end of the trip) -- I'll let you know how it turns out. Cheers, m'dears.
