transportation in Beijing, Shanghai and in-between

The post today is going to have more of an utilitarian purpose. I know when I started to plan for the trip to China I was definitely looking for this kind of info. And while it is true that usually it is not hard to find specific info – and probably more detailed than what I am going to write here – it still might help people doing research. Or those to scared to consider a trip to China because of language barriers and concerns about managing day to day tasks.

Sadly this post cannot shed any light on long-distance bus rides, nor metropolitan transit in other cities beside Shanghai and Beijing. However, as I traveled Beijing – Shanghai by train and plane and in the cities themselves by a few means of transportation I hope I can give a general idea what to expect.

I will start with the long-distance and then move to short-distance.

First of all I traveled by train from Beijing to Shanghai. There are several kinds of trains – the T day train, the Z night trains and the D night trains. This is also the order or rising prices and level of comfort. The different kind of seats are: hard seat and soft seat (meaning seats – none of the is “hard” per-se – 2 comfort levels) for day trains and hard sleeper and soft sleeper for night trains. A hard sleeper costs around 500 rmb one-way and there are 6 beds per cabin, and the cabins are open toward the corridor.From what I heard Z trains soft / hard sleeper is the best value.

I rode a D301 train, which is the higher level of train. The ticket costs 650 rmb, it started at 21:35 and arrived in the morning at around 7:30. There were 4 beds per cabin. From the pictures following you can see that the quality is very  luxurious. Everything in the train station and the train per-se is both written in Chinese and English. All in all a very nice experience. The only complaint – beside the price, which for a 1500km ride is still pretty fine – is that the entertainment system was in Chinese only.

Return from Shanghai was done by plane. Because of the May 1st craziness I could not find any kinda of train ticket, so I had to take whatever the travel agency offered. I flew Shanghai Airways, which is a company with the hub in Shanghai (kind of obvious). The flight took 1hr30, arrived on time and the ticket cost was 700rmb + 50rmb departure tax. It cannot be considered low-cost airline as they did provide food (dumplings for breakfast – yummy) and I did not have to pay for checked luggage. Pretty good flight, no problems whatsoever. The plane was a Boeing 767-300 and the air hostesses nice and helpful. I would say that it’s a pretty solid company. the other people I met who flew with them were also satisfied. It is important to notice that the domestic flights leave / arrive in Shanghai on Hongqiao, not Pudong. Which means no Maglev ride, but also cheaper taxi ride.

The airports are nothing short of excellent – good information everywhere, and all the facilities one would expect. I did miss Amsterdam’s Schiphol electric sockets but I suppose I cannot have everything 🙂

Taxi rides – I did not have a  very good experience. Which just means that they were not perfect – just ok. I used one from Beijing airport to the hostel and from Shanghai hostel to the Hongqiao airport. First ride was 100 rmb and the second 40 rmb. None of the drivers spoke English, and both demanded tips. However, all taxis use meters so at least no surprises from that area. Compared to other places the experience was good though – the drivers can pick you up right from the hostel lobby, help with luggage, and when they do not know / understand the destination they call either the hostel or the cab HQ. So, when early or late flights demand taking a taxi they are very good.

The alternatives to taking a cab to / from airport is to use the mass-transit. I used a shuttle bus from Beijing airport to the center of town. I cost 16 rmb. Stops are announced also in English, and at departure place there are clearly stated the different routes the buses take (different areas of the city). Air-conditioned and pretty fast but the more luggage you have the  worse it gets negotiating for space.

Tomorrow I will get to the airport by the Airport Express, which is a special subway line. I will add a comment about the experience later.

Having finished with going to / coming from the airports and moving in-between (main) cities, I will move to the subway.