Beijing A to B - Subway System

Relief for those living near Lincui Road, just northwest of the Olympic Forest Park: Beijing’s Subway Line 8’s stopping by near your place come around 2012!

The question whether Lincui Road would get a Line 8 station at all first went back to late 2007. (Lincui Road is located just northwest of Beijing’s Olympic Green, which is in northern urban Beijing near the northern 5th Ring Road.) Conflicting plan maps showed either a Line 8 with an actual, full-blown stop at Lincui Road or just an “emergency stop”. (The Subway would have to be in critical conditions to let you get off at Lincui Road — even if you happened to live there!)

Folks actually happen to live there: a new 5th Ring Road flyover has been built and opened as of late to allow people on the city orbital to zip to Lincui Road heading north. (In fact, there are about 10 residential communities up there!) Trouble is, Lincui Road is a near blank on the city’s bus system. The Jing has just about a thousand bus routes at last count, but only one bus route makes it to Lincui Road.

Until Tian Yuan, a city NPC (city hall) rep, chimed in with the news from the Urban Planning Commission. Based on popular demand, Line 8 will stop at Lincui Road. Furthermore, there are no technical problems.

Lincui Road station is likely to be west of the Olympic Tennis Center and is likely to be close to the road itself.

Phase 2 of Line 8 expands the present-day Phase 1 north to Huilongguan East Street (Huilongguandongdajie) Station and stretches the southern terminus further south down to South Luogu Alley (Nanluoguxiang) Station. Phase 2 is slated for a 2012 opening. The present-day Line 8 serves the Olympic Green only (which is located in northern urban Beijing); Phase 2 will bring services to Huilongguan, a massive community in northern Beijing, and extend Subway coverage down to central Beijing’s Di’anmen and Nanluoguxiang areas, presently bar and hutong territory.

Even with the present-day license plate limits in force, which require up to 20% of all cars off roads inside central Beijing during weekdays, traffic still appears to go nowhere during rush hour. No surprise, then, that the Beijing Subway is rapidly becoming the way to get from A to B. No jams (although a few queues now and then), and speeds up to 70 km/h.

But can you ever have too much of a good thing? No need to answer — that’s why the Beijing transit authorities are planning up to 20 lines over 561 km by 2015. One of these lines is Line 14, which does a J-shaped semi-arc around much of outer central Beijing. Yet even before the tunnel boring machines get underway to the works site, the rhetoric around town has very much been — Line 14 as of late. Two places in particular demand: the two termini.

The terminus in southwestern Beijing used to start near the Marco Polo Bridge, but has since then moved up further north to a local settlement known as Zhangyicun. In the latest plans, Line 14 will cross the Yongding River further west, and Subway forums are of the opinion that it might even curve south to reach residential areas west of the river. If this happens, people that live around Dujiakan, known locally as “Ol’ Du” (named after the nearby freeway toll gate which is chock-full of traffic at rush hour), might be relieved to hear that Line 14’s headed their way.

Yet this very shift further north would leave other Beijingers further south much more disadvantaged. Those living near Xidaokou, very much part of an older and somewhat more “industry-rich” part of Beijing, as well as those living near the 5th Ring Road, constitute tens of thousands of local residents who would be disadvantaged if Line 14 was placed further north, thereby making them 6 km away from the nearest Line 14 station at Lujing Road. Xidaokou is no traffic paradise: local traffic on the side road of the Jingshi Freeway make the area inaccessible due to excess traffic flow, relatively low maintenance and narrow access roads.

In the meantime, there is equal pressure to extend the northern terminus from Laiguangying, just north of “Beijing’s Koreatown”, Wangjing, all the way up to reach eastern Tiantongyuan. Tiantongyuan is presently served by Line 5, as well as by Bus Rapid Transit Route 3, but even with the dual transit links, traffic still is incredibly busy on the access highway. Furthermore, only central and western Tiantongyuan are presently served by rapid transit links; eastern Tiantongyuan still remains a traffic void.

This more recent proposal, which is just about a day old (as of this report), has already garnered over 2,000 clicks and 100 responses on local BBS systems, according to local media reports. Tiantongyuan has at present over 300,000 residents and is in northern Beijing’s Changping District. Tiantongyuan, too, is of note, as in 2006, enough Netizens campaigned (successfully) for the addition of the present-day Tiantongyuan Subway Station, a station that, upon its opening, has become one of the busiest stations on Line 5.

What’s the response from the Beijing Municipal Urban Planning Committee? “Present-day Line 14 maps are still planned maps; no real works have begun, nor have any plans been finalized; minor changes could still happen.” (This very same response was used to address the issue in southwestern Beijing.) In a move that shows that someone’s still listening, the Committee has told local media that the proposal by Tiantongyuan residents will be duly noted.

Line 14 of the Beijing Subway will be, upon its completion, one of the longest Subway lines in the network. The Subway line links with the new Beijing South Railway Station, home to the Beijing-Tianjin HSR, at present the fastest regularly service railway line, and heads into Puhuangyu, home of Beijingers who “struck it rich” in the late 1980s. Line 14 next runs underneath Xidawang Road, one of the core roads running straight through the Beijing CBD, before it crosses via Chaoyang Park into Wangjing, known as the “Koreatown” of the Chinese capital. Some of the core lines that Line 14 will link with include Lines 4 and 5, all of these being major north-south lines, as well as Lines 1 and 6, major city west-east lines, and Line 10, the “outer loop” line.

Works on Line 14 were supposed to start by late 2008, a deadline that was announced as early as late 2007, but have since been pushed back to spring 2009. At first, a completion date was given as 2012, but present-day estimates look likely to push the opening date back to 2014 or before 2015.

Take this from a local Subway forum:

A Subway staff member who carries two cards in a bag (we’re assuming this is a lady) got to experience just how super-sensitive these Line 10 faregates can get. On the very top of the bag is a regular Beijing Super Pass, and at the very bottom (separated by apparently what is a huge purse) is the Subway staff card (which grants her free access to the Beijing Subway system).

OK — so she’s in the mood of dipping the whole bag on the faregate reader. On Lines 1, 2 and 5, she passes; no money swiped away from her regular Super Pass; all’s well. But then this bit is downright scary:

On Line 10 faregates, not only are both cards read, not only does the gate open (instead of reporting an error about two cards being used at the same time), but CNY 2 is automatically deducted from her plain-vanilla Super Pass!

Ow.

Can these things penetrate your hands, too? Are they weapons of mass interception?

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 10
Sources: Local (with reference to local Subway forums)
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Ah, Longfusi (隆福寺). No idea what we’re on about? A fire ruined the Longfusi mall at least once in the 1990s (we heard that it got a second beating after that). Meanwhile, 门可罗雀, or “nary a soul” (in English), is the best way of describing Longfusi this day. Commerce — closed. Zapped. Word says that place is haunted, at least commerce-wise.

So it appears that the most haunted idea of all time in the Beijing Subway would be to stick a Subway station in the absolute dead (and dead already) center of Longfusi.

Beijing, so far, has no haunted Subway stations; this is probably the case as Zhongnanhai’s stance (or maybe Marx’s stance) dictates that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. Does it want one?

The answer is probably yes. Longfusi is supposed to be this massive interchange station on Line 6. A lazy express line, if we may. The plans foresee the kind of mega-interchange that has those designers of the Châtelet-Les Halles interchange in Paris shivering in their sleep. You thought the interchanges at Fuxingmen and Xizhimen were hell on earth already? Get ready for your arrival at Longfusi, where three stations — Meishuguandongjie (Line 8 interchange), Longfusi itself, and Dongsi (Line 5 interchange) — are all amalgamated.

They say that Line 6 is an express, zippy-ish service; the express Subway probably has no time to stop at three stations, so it does only one. Unfortunately, that very one may very well be that very wrong one…

A Subway station at Longfusi? We at Beijing A to B and Beijingology give it the big thumbs down. For superstitious reasons. We are superstitious souls for the good of Beijing and its Subway. In official atheist parlance, we are not good comrades…

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 6
Sources: Local
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Who This Is For: All Subway people (except those on the Airport Express)

Was that 24-hour nonstop service from August 8 through 9, 2008 — well, really neat? Do we hear that refrain from Oliver Twist — more?

Subway glorious Subway… see, we couldn’t exactly do the whole thing right. (Hey, London’s getting the Games in 4 years, so we could’ve easily done: Tube glorious Tube… Do we hear more? You’re getting more — the Subway’s doing 24 hour services yet again on August 24 through 25, 2008. The sole exception to the rule: the Airport Express, which will obediently shut down for up to six hours a bit after midnight.

By the way — if you hold a ticket to Them Games, you’re eligible for free rides in the whole system (the Airport Express, once again, takes exception to this). If you’re like your Subway-mad Beijingologist, you can even ride the thing during the closing ceremony, although we can never guarantee if you’ll get odd stares from the Subway crew. (Why’s that guy not at the ceremony? could be one of those facial expressions.)

And — an Olympic ticket is probably one of the only (few) ways to gain access to Subway Line 8 — right into the Olympic Green. You heard that right: Please get ready for your arrival.

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 1, Batong Line, Line 2, Line 5, Line 8, Line 10, Line 13, 24-hour service
Sources: Local
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Who This Is For: Liu Xiang fans who are also Subway people (it works the other way round, too)

The online world has buried Liu Xiang alive due to his absence from the long-awaited athletics competition at the Beijing Games. Unconfirmed (and rather shady) economic gossip tell of horror stories of people betting tonnes on Liu Xiang — and who are probably on a money black list due to Liu in absentia. Liu Xiang is not exactly persona non grata, but in the unpublished Chinese world (note that all “published” reports have to be “harmonious”), Liu is in it deep — unrelenting criticism, that is. (No idea who Liu Xiang is? He won — very much surprisingly — gold in athletics in Athens 2004. Since that very moment, Liu Xiang has been very big in China — especially in the sports world.)

Well, let the dark great gnashing of teeth continue, for Liu Xiang’s getting support in one of the most unexpected of all places: the Beijing Subway. Pass by the Line 2 split hall at exit B at Fuxingmen station, and you see — a tree.

Any old tree, it seems. Until you examine the artificial flora a bit closer. On the tree are messages of support for Liu Xiang. To the tune of stuff like: “Liu Xiang! Keep fit! You’re always the best!”

The tree was put up late on August 20, 2008, and to this day, it has kept on getting the love it (or Liu) rightfully deserves. And while people may not be giving much love to Liu at rush hour, the fact that the tree’s there at all is very much a show of support. Even with injuries keeping the Flying Man out of action, he’s still in the minds of many a Subway rider. And, we dare say, still in a healthy proportion of the entire population.

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 1, Line 2, Liu Xiang
Sources: Local (with reference to Legal Times)
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Who This Is For: Mobile + Mobile People on Lines 1 and 2

Nope — we haven’t gotten to the stage yet where your rides on the Beijing Subway earn you points to pay your mobile bill. Yet. (And with the recent impasse between the Subway company and the mobile telcos, we think that kind of stuff is probably reserved for the next ice age, or somewhere around that time.)

But yes — if you’re riding the Subway system and suddenly want to top up on your mobile phone charges (or pay your subscription fees by using top up cards), you’ll be able to help yourself to mobile phone top up cards at nine Subway stations (all are on Lines 1 or 2):

• Line 1 stations: Yuquanlu, Gongzhufen, Military Museum, Muxidi, Nanlishilu
• Line 2 stations: Andingmen, Gulou, Chegongzhuang, Xuanwumen

Your only way to nab these cards, by the way, is by — plastic — once again. Nope, you can’t use your Super Pass on this one yet; you’ll need a plain-vanilla China UnionPay-savvy card (your local bank card is probably UnionPay-ready). If you’re thinking of paying by cash, you’ll need to wait; right now, it’s UnionPay-only.

These machines, by the way, are ready to offer you even more services in the future. Once the whole machine’s geared up to do its full set of “things”, so to speak, you’ll be able to buy mobile phone numbers, or pay your bills or top up — and yup, all of this will be self-service. Ahh, futurespeak.

By the way, if you need an official invoice, you’ll need to go to an authorized mobile telco dealer.

Half-baked or a convenience already? We’ll let you figure that one out.

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 1, Line 2
Sources: Local (with reference to Qianlong Beijing)
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Who This Is For: Line 5 and 10 people

What happens when you open two new trunk Subway lines in less than a year’s time? You make 1.28 million more people go underground.

Not to mention the massive storm of passengers flooding onto Lines 5 and 10 — two of the most important Subway lines in the entire Chinese capital. The stats have it: August 12, 2008 saw new records for passengers on Lines 5 and 10.

4.104 million people went underground on the 12th — those include around 714,000 people for Line 5 and around 566,000 people for Line 10.

Also noteworthy is the mass deluge of passengers at Wukesong station on Line 1. Remember — these people love basketball…

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 5, Line 10
Sources: Local (with reference to Beijing transit authorities)
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Who This Is For: Line 10 people armed with a mobile phone

Within about 24 hours after the first mobile signals became reality on Line 10, your Beijingologist took a dive into the underground world — and was impressed.

Test drive stations: Jintaixizhao and Hujialou

1. Access into the Subway station

No worries here — full signal on the ground, full signal beyond the faregates. Waiting for a Line 10 train, I started, in essence, mucking around with the phone — nothing happened that would have made the signal go kaputt. Full signal here.

2. On the Line 10 train

I started writing a short text message — it got sent. (My phone didn’t make a racket, however, so it took me quite a while to figure out that I actually got a reply.) As we neared Hujialou, I started going on the Web, trying to tweet. (My new phone has a less-than-ideal UI, so the tweeting didn’t go as expected. Still, full signals, no sweat.)

3. Out and in again

I got the short text message as I popped my head out at Hujialou exit B and started heading back to exit C1. A pretty semi-sticky-ish morning, for sure, but at least the signals worked.

Back at Jintaixizhao — and no bit of mobile coverage loss. It seems like Line 10 will soon be yet another Subway line where the noise level gets that bit louder.

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 10
Sources: Local
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Who This Is For: Riders on Lines 1 and 2 with sharp ears

Ever been on a Subway Line 1 or Line 2 train lately? The Chinese announcements now sound a lot “softer” than before (they already sounded pretty “soft”); yours truly compares that kind of “softness” to that of a romantic couple, with the girl obviously in a super-romantic mood, tone-wise. In the meantime, the English announcements are now done fully by expats in Beijing: this time, they’ve picked an American to do the announcements. (The whole thing sounds super-rhotic, by the way, for those of you linguists out there.) On a probably less romantic and more informative note, the new announcements were put in place to add references to the new Line 10 and the Airport Express, which opened at 14:00 on July 19, 2008.

The previous announcements on Lines 1 and 2 were done by the older Ms Lines 1 and 2, whose Chinese version sounds precisely like that of Ms Line 10, and whose English incarnation was the laughingstock of the city, accent-wise; jumping up and down, sometimes super-loud, and more often than not, a real stoccato.

Furthermore, Subway fans have noted (although Beijingology has not confirmed) that Lines 13 and the Batong Line, too, now feature the new Ms Lines 1 and 2 in terms of the announcement. For those of you who faint at the notion of American English-only announcements, your home is in the exclusive realm of Line 10, where Ms Line 10 does announcements à la Received Pronunciation.

Technorati Tags: Beijingology, Beijing transit, Beijing Subway, Line 1, Line 2
Sources: Local (with reference to local Subway forums)
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