Good news about the subway system

Of course if people are going to drive less, they've got to have other ways of getting around. Beijing's buses are often pretty crowded and have to fight their way through traffic. While the subway trains are also usually crowded, they don't have to fight the traffic and are hence a much quicker way of getting from one place to another.

There is some really good news here. Beijing's subway system has gotten much better since I moved here in 2006 and will get even better in the near future. I've inserted a map of the planned subway system above. The only lines operating in 2006 were the Nr. 1 (East-West, Red line), 2 (Loop/Ring line), 13 (Orange Line), and Batong Line (extends east from the Nr. 1 Line). The 5 (Green) line opened up on 2007 and the 10 (Pink) line and airport (Brown) express became operational in 2008. Further expansion is slated to occur over the next three years. For example, the Nr. 4 line, which makes a slanting east-west run through central Beijing, will open next year.

(I should note, the map gets the colors of most of these lines wrong: the 1 is red, but the 13 Line is yellow, the Batong Line is orange, the Nr. 2 Loop line is dark blue, the North-South 5 Line is purple, and the 10 line is light blue; sorry for the confusion, but visitors to Beijing can sort that out pretty easily after a couple of days here.)

While I do miss at times the convenience of using a car to get to places, I don't miss the costs associated with car ownership. I reckon that I spend at most 100 RMB, or around $14 at the current exchange rate, a month on transportation, mainly because I mainly use the buses and subway to get around (I hardly ever ride a cab except when I'm returning home late at night, after the subway and buses have stopped operating). So by not having and driving a car and using public transportation instead, I'm doing both the environment and my pocket book a favor.