What the hell?
Beijing's buses are at first sight a terrifying proposition. Any stop will have up to a dozen routes whizzing past, with
information only displayed in Chinese. If you don't know which route you need, ask someone waiting at the stop to help you -
you won't actually need to speak any Chinese, pointing at a map will do. Buses range from small
air-conditioned coaches to huge creaking concertina monsters lumbering around the third ring road - choose with care if it's a
long journey. They're unsurprisingly busy at rush-hour, and you may find conditions somewhat intimate, especially when people
are attempting to squeeze past. Minimum charge is 1Y, and longer journeys or nicer buses
will cost you a little more.
A team of two
Most important person on the bus, excluding you, is of course the driver. They don't do anything except drive (ok, they
occasionally get out and peer angrily into the engine compartment, or argue with a taxi driver, but at that point you should
probably find a new bus) and drink tea out of a jam jar. Second in command is the conductor, who shouts out destinations,
shames people into giving seats to the elderly, tells the driver when someone wants to get off and occasionally sells the odd
ticket or two. When buying a ticket you should tell the conductor where you are going, but if you don't know, they're not
paid enough to really care. The biggest buses will have more than one conductor, which appears excessive until you realise that some of Beijing's
buses are so big they have their own weather systems, and at rush hour a population in excess of a few European
nations.
This ain't so bad
Once you become a little more familiar, you'll find Beijing has a network of buses that will take you pretty much anywhere
you want to go at a reasonable speed for a very reasonable price. They are obviously slower than taxis , but surprisingly nippy
when the traffic opens up.