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Question: Getting Around? |
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The subway, or Underground Dragon, is definitely the best way of travelling quickly within Beijing. Oversized and overstuffed buses are the norm, and on the whole best avoided.
Beijing taxis are multiplying fast: finding one is not difficult, but making yourself understood in English may be a bit more problematic. Costs are around Y10.00 for the first 4km (2.5mi).
Like much of China, Beijing looks so much better once you're pedalling. A bike shortens those long dreary stretches, avoids the footpath throng, and helps you feel a lot more like a local.
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bus
If you simply must catch a bus around town, sharpen your elbows, chain your wallet to your underwear and muster all the patience you can - you'll need it. There are about 140 bus and trolley routes, which makes navigation rather confusing, especially if you can't see out the window.
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taxi
If you don't speak Chinese, bring a map or have your destination written down in Chinese characters. Telephone bookings are possible.
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bicycle
Hotels - especially budget hotels - often rent out bikes at reasonable rates, or there are the numerous bike-hire outfits in the streets around hotels and tourist spots.
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underground rail
The Underground Dragon can move at up to 70km (43mi) per hour - a jaguar compared to the lumbering buses. But while it's clean and easy to use, the trains are starting to show their age.
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Disabled Travellers
If you are wheelchair-bound or you have a walking disability, Beijing will be a major obstacle course. Pavements are often crowded and are in an appalling and dangerous condition. High curbs prevent wheelchair access. Many streets can be crossed only via an underground or overhead walkway with many steps. You will also have to stick to the main roads, as cars and bicycles often occupy the pavements of smaller alleys and lanes, forcing pavement users on to the road. Those with sight, hearing or walking disabilities must be extremely cautious of the traffic, which almost never yields to pedestrians. Most, but not all, hotels have lifts, and several top-end hotels have rooms for those with disabilities, but there are no lifts in the subway where escalators usually only go up.
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