Subways Are Intense

The Subway system here is a spectacle. Wow. My first attempt to board a subway car was thwarted by a small-ish woman in her mid 40s who wedged her way between myself and my co-worker as I was stepping onto the packed train, fresh from the airport. She grabbed my shoulder from behind, and yanked me hard enough to lose my balance backwards as she propelled herself into the train, occupying the last square foot of floor space on the train. "Thanks bitch, we'll get the next one."

As the next train pulled up (90 seconds later) people from who knows where started crowding the subway doors. There are no lines in China. If there is space enough in front of you for somebody to wedge into, thats you're fault. Nobody waits for the people exiting to get off either. Everybody just moves forward - through each other. You push, you pull, you force your way into the train. The people trying to exit are unfazed as they push, claw, and punch their way out. Its very VERY uncomfortable the first few days, but thereafter it becomes sort of fun.

People definitely don't have the same expectation of personal space that they do on, say, Bart. It's common to see somebody jerking their way between a grandma and a 4-year-old to leap out of the train 2 seconds before the doors close, shoving them both as they do. I've never been closer than 4 feet (and 22 people) from sitting down. But honestly, I don't want to be. I'm so paranoid about being able to exit when my stop arrives that I usually ride with my face smushed against the doors.

It runs very efficiently. Doors are only open for about 20 seconds. Luckily, we live only one stop away from everywhere we ever need to be.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the subway stations are the method of payment. Similar to BART, you put money on a card and can carry a balance on that card. However this card has some kind of RFID chip in it, so you just get near enough to the subway gate and it knows your remaining balance and allows you through. Most subway rides are $3 RMB (50 cents). Even cooler, this card can also be used on the local bus system and to pay for taxi rides. Taxis cost between $1.50 USD and $3 USD for even very long distances. We had to take a 15 minute cab ride the other day. $3. Crazy.

You don't have to tip the drivers either (in fact, no tips anywhere - even restaurants).