Packed like Sardines

Today I will go downtown to collect some money from a few tutoring agencies. To get down to the the CBD (Central Business District), I usually ride my bike to the light rail in Wudaokou and then take a 45 minute trip with two transfers. The first transfer is a pain in the ass, since the terminal of the lightrail in Xizhimen in under construction and one must follow a maze to an underground platform. At Fuxingmen I transfer from the 2 line to the 1 line which then leads me to the CBD.

I realize that this doesn't mean anything to out of towners, but I have been dealing with lines 13 (lightrail), 2, and 1 my whole stay in Beijing and I am frequent subway commuter. But just last week they opened up line 5, with line 10, line 8, and the airport express to follow suit within the year - so impressive. Not only have they been digging more lines for the Olympics, but they plan to replace every subway with brand new state of the art subway cars. This is China and when it comes to infrastructure they don't fool around. The new No. 5 line with the new cars are glorious - clean, digital, bigger, and more modern than anything in the US. And when I saw a man trying to spark up on a platform, without delay a security guard rushed over yelling for him to put it out. It feels good to see Beijing grow into a more modern and civilized city. The government is not going to stop at that Olympics - the plans that are currently drafted lay out a subway grid of 2020 that are more extensive than those in New York or London.

Last week they also made a radical change to the subway system by reducing the fare from 3 yuan to 2 yuan (25 cents) and making all transfers free. So when I commute to the CBD now it only cost 2 yuan, as opposed to 5 yuan a week earlier. This has created a great incentive for more people to take the subway, no doubt, but I believe that this new policy is counter intuitive. Beijing wants to lessen the traffic on the road because it is a nightmare and increase the traffic underground, certainly understandable. But lowering the fare without adding more frequent subways to keep up with the heavier flow has created a disaster in itself. Many of my expat friends have decided to take more taxis and many of my Chinese friends with cars have said that the crowds in the metro are too much to bare. It seems, the influx of passengers are not from those with cars or even a decent salary, but those who normally walk, bike, or take the bus. Remember that it doesn't matter how many people are on the bus, a bus is still a bus in traffic. Not only are their more people, and it hurts me to say this, but the passengers are certainly more uncouth and dirtier than before. I think it is great to give people of all social backgrounds and income levels the opportunity to travel the city cheaply, however as the income gap widens it will be a challenge to get those who can afford cars and those who shower once a week to cram into a subway together.

Yesterday I looked around my subway car to notice that I was the only person wearing a color other than black, brown, and navy blue (typical drab Beijing colors). As I started to process this observation so I could recall it in my blog, a weathered woman from the countryside put out a piece a newspaper on the floor in front of me and then held out her toddler with both hands as he relieved himself mostly missing the target while splashes sprinkled my shoe. I got off at the next station.