PT in CQ - Buses

Cars are relatively cheap in China (locally made cars, I should say) and car ownership is on the rise as the economy opens up. That said, the cost of running a car is prohibitively expensive to most Chinese and as such owning a car is seen as a sign of status and success.

Of all my Chinese colleagues, only two drive themselves to work. One is an interpreter whose husband is an executive in an IT business. Although he can’t drive, his company gave him a car - a shiny new, locally produced Peugeot sedan. He took three lessons, pranging the car each time, before giving up and advising his wife that from then on the car was hers.

In most cities in China bicycles are widespread although their use is decreasing as the number of cars increases. Chongqing is unique in China due to its dearth of bicycles. Because of the hilly terrain it is too difficult to ride in much of the city and since I’ve been here I’ve only seen two people on bikes. I have found it quite striking when I have visited other cities to see the number of bikes on the road. The infrastructure is very good with dedicated bike lanes on busy roads, as wide as a traffic lane and often separated from the road by a concrete barrier.

Public buses are the most common means of public transport in Chongqing. The vast majority of the population neither has a car nor can afford a taxi on a daily basis and the buses here are a cheap and reliable alternative. A decent public transport system is a necessity in a city of this size and although it is slightly chaotic and disorderly it seems to work effectively enough.

In Melbourne I used to catch a train then a tram to get to work. If I missed my train I would have to wait 20 minutes for the next one, despite it being peak hour. The trains were always crowded and if one was cancelled it would often be near impossible to get on the next, with people jammed in. The trains were often late and the service unreliable.

In comparison the bus service in Chongqing has been an absolute pleasure. I catch a bus to work each morning and I have never once had to wait. There is a constant stream of buses going past and I manage to get a seat every morning (although it probably helps that I travel against the peak hour traffic).

I catch the 109 bus in the morning and my bus stop is just at the end of my street. I am fortunate that it is the terminal stop, meaning that there are usually two or three buses lined up waiting to go. When the first one fills it moves off and the next one rolls up, so just about everyone can get a seat and there’s minimal waiting. The buses don’t work to a timetable, but because I’m at the first stop it doesn’t matter, I never have to wait more than a couple of minutes before one leaves. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work once I’m on the bus.

There is another bus that I can catch in the mornings (702) which goes past the end of my street. If it happens to be going past as I’m about to cross the road I’ll wave it down – although there is no stop there the drivers will stop for just about anyone, anywhere. I actually wonder whether they work on commission. Because there is no stop, the bus just slows down to allow you to jump on. I’ve had the conductor – always a woman – grab hold of me by the shoulders to pull me up. It was pretty funny considering I was twice her size and just about everyone on the bus had a bit of a chuckle.

In the evenings I can catch any bus home as they all go into the city. I generally take whichever comes along first and because of this there is never much waiting. Buses roll up regularly, about five going past every minute.

The traffic is fairly heavy in Chongqing and the streets relatively narrow, and the drivers do a great job of manoeuvring around wayward taxis, motorcycles and pedestrians. I should also mention that at least 50% of the bus drivers are female, a much much higher proportion than back home.

The bus I catch in the mornings costs 1 rmb (a little less than 20 cents) which is paid into a box as you enter the bus. There is also an electronic scanner and you can purchase a rechargeable card which deducts the fare as it is held to the scanner. Most people leave the card in their pocket or bag and just hold it up to the scanner. You get a discount if you buy one of these cards, it’s about 20% I think but I felt it wasn’t really worth the trouble as I would have needed to register, have a photo taken, etc etc. For the sake of 4 cents a day I couldn’t really be bothered.

I was pretty amazed that the buses had this sort of electronic technology, especially considering the state of them. The buses have different ‘grades’ depending on which route they run. The 109 line is fairly basic, verging on grotty. The floor is exposed steel, the windows are dirty and the seats are padded vinyl although generally in pretty good nick. I have caught some buses with wooden benches which are not comfortable, particularly given the poor state of suspension. There are ‘No Smoking’ signs on my bus and passengers generally abide, although I’ve got on a few times to find the bus filled with smoke only to realise that the driver is the culprit. Hardly setting a good example. Although the buses are pretty shoddy and grotty there is no graffiti or vandalism.

There are nicer buses running on different routes, with more comfortable seats, lino on the floor, and often a flat screen tv set up behind the drivers head, usually showing a news or sports channel. Many buses have a conductor to collect the fare, and again depending on which line you’re on the conductor may be wearing a uniform which resembles an old-school 50s style flight attendant (pill box hat, anyone?). The conductors invariably stick their heads out the window as they approach bus stops shouting the destinations. In Beijing they have an electronic recording to do the same job which is equally annoying, if not more so.

The nicer buses are called Middle Grade Buses and are more expensive at 1.5 rmb a ride. Some of the grottier buses also have tv screens and conductors and I’m yet to figure out the grades of all the different combinations. There doesn’t seem to be an overall governing body for the buses, and it seems that different companies run different lines ie. one company might have the sole rights to run the 109 line, another the 702 etc. Not being able to read the characters makes it a bit difficult to know where buses go and where they stop, and I’ve had to memorise route numbers. It’s also made more difficult because different lines will stop at different places along the same road. I’m fortunate to have a lot of helpful colleagues who know the local routes and can tell me which to take if I need to go somewhere particular.

Despite its seemingly chaotic nature, the lack of timetables and the state of some of the buses the system works incredibly well. I’m yet to curse it as I did on a daily basis back in Melbourne – perhaps the Met (or whatever it’s called these days) could learn a thing or two from Chongqing?