BREAKING NEWS: I have now seen three accidents. Only two involved taxis and one was a tow trucking making it's own business by hitting a taxi.
As I've said befire, I'm shocked that there are not smashed taxis pushed to the side of the road everywhere in Beijing. I'm also shocked that the hospitals aren't filled (though they might be, what do I know?) with pedestrians, byclists and taxi passengers with cardiac arrests. All victims of these green and yellow cars.
There are 64,000 taxis here. All but 3 of them are green and yellow. And all those drivers wear yellow, collared, buttoned, short-sleeved shirts.
There is no road rage. Everyone - bikes, cars, pedestrians and cyclists - cut each other off. But they do it calmly and move on to their next encounter. They ring bells, whistle and blow horns, but no yelling, bird flipping, stare-downs etc.
I heard that a cyclist will keep peddaling as long as they see the driver look at them. If not, they brake. Wise.
I've had great, OK and poor cab rides. Most great! But, as in the rest of life, the bad ones stand out.
To have at least a 50/50 chance of getting to your destination, it helps to have your destination written in Chinese characters. It helps more to have someone who speaks Chinese tell the driver your destination. It's a bonus if you have a map to which you can point and grunt.
I had two of these the other day when I was running to the MPC to catch the Shunyi shuttle. None of it helped. He even spoke a bit of English, so less grunting was required. He drove me everywhere BUT the MPC. After awhile, he was so embarassed that he turned off the meter. I was nice, don't worry.
Once reaching the MPC and having learned a hard lesson (and missing my shuttle) I needed ANOTHER cab to take me to the venue in order to be there when needed. So I asked an English-speaking volunteer to help me explain my destination. One driver was hopeless and we sent him on to a less complicated location. We found another who understood. Right.
He took me on a scenic tour of the Village, Birds Nest, Shanghai, the Great Wall, the Not-So-Hot Wall (OK, so I'm making some of this up) and finally got on the highway to Shunyi.
Moral to the story? In order to get where you're going by a Chinese cab, be Chinese.
As I've said befire, I'm shocked that there are not smashed taxis pushed to the side of the road everywhere in Beijing. I'm also shocked that the hospitals aren't filled (though they might be, what do I know?) with pedestrians, byclists and taxi passengers with cardiac arrests. All victims of these green and yellow cars.
There are 64,000 taxis here. All but 3 of them are green and yellow. And all those drivers wear yellow, collared, buttoned, short-sleeved shirts.
There is no road rage. Everyone - bikes, cars, pedestrians and cyclists - cut each other off. But they do it calmly and move on to their next encounter. They ring bells, whistle and blow horns, but no yelling, bird flipping, stare-downs etc.
I heard that a cyclist will keep peddaling as long as they see the driver look at them. If not, they brake. Wise.
I've had great, OK and poor cab rides. Most great! But, as in the rest of life, the bad ones stand out.
To have at least a 50/50 chance of getting to your destination, it helps to have your destination written in Chinese characters. It helps more to have someone who speaks Chinese tell the driver your destination. It's a bonus if you have a map to which you can point and grunt.
I had two of these the other day when I was running to the MPC to catch the Shunyi shuttle. None of it helped. He even spoke a bit of English, so less grunting was required. He drove me everywhere BUT the MPC. After awhile, he was so embarassed that he turned off the meter. I was nice, don't worry.
Once reaching the MPC and having learned a hard lesson (and missing my shuttle) I needed ANOTHER cab to take me to the venue in order to be there when needed. So I asked an English-speaking volunteer to help me explain my destination. One driver was hopeless and we sent him on to a less complicated location. We found another who understood. Right.
He took me on a scenic tour of the Village, Birds Nest, Shanghai, the Great Wall, the Not-So-Hot Wall (OK, so I'm making some of this up) and finally got on the highway to Shunyi.
Moral to the story? In order to get where you're going by a Chinese cab, be Chinese.
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