China is a very peaceful and gentle land. Every now and then I discover some new and fascinating thing that takes my breath away.

Two weeks ago, one of the city’s daily business newspapers interviewed me about my opinion of Nanchang’s bus service. This blog is what I would have written, if I were the reporter.

I dedicate this blog to all of my friends at Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) in suburban Detroit, Michigan.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Here's the article ...

美国巴士司机感受南昌公交
同是“2”路车,为何两个样

这位美国巴士司机拍了几十张南昌公交车的照片,存在自已的电脑里
粉红色的车头好醒目,车还在半站远的地方就看得清
2路电车有的有电子显示牌,有的却没有


  在南昌生活和工作了好几年的美国人雷江笙,曾经在美国当了7年的巴士司机。现在南昌当“外教”的他,除偶尔“打的”之外,绝大部分时间都是坐巴士上下班。有一次,他信口说出南昌至少10条公交车经过的路线和公交车的各种特征,让所有在场的南昌人自叹不如。  美国巴士司机眼中的南昌公交究竟是个什么样子呢?

2路公交车怎么不一样?  
“南昌只有一家公交公司,为什么跑同一条线路的公交车看起来不一样?”,这样的提问表现了这位美国巴士司机对南昌的公交车的好奇。  

江笙说2路车的车头上方显示第几路车的显示牌,有的是电子显示牌,有的是纸贴的显示牌。电子显示的“2”字为红色,好远都能看得清楚,而纸贴的显示牌数字是白色的,底色是蓝色的,天一黑就看不清。同为2路公交车,为什么没有全部采用电子显示牌呢?对此,这位美国司机很是不理解。
  他还说,15路、7路、2路、1路、243路、202路、301路、602路的线路号为电子显示,但5路仍为纸贴的显示牌。

美国几乎没有双层巴士  
江笙说,他仅在电影和图片上看过双层巴士。当他在南昌第一次看到602双层巴士的时候感觉好新奇,他从来没有开过双层巴士。他说:好像除了旧金山,美国所有的城市都没有双层巴士。也许,美国的公交公司认为双层巴士重心太高,不够安全,也许,双层巴士行驶速度不能太快。再说,美国的公交车没有南昌的公交车这么拥挤,用双层巴士加大载客量,就显得没有什么必要了。

南昌巴士速度比较慢  
美国的城市公交的速度比南昌公交车快,即使在节奏慢一点的城市也如此,公交车的速度也差不多比南昌的公交车快一倍。交通发达,人车分流,加上大多数城市设置了公交车专用的站台,是美国巴士能够跑得快的原因之一。而且,美国的巴士全部都是自动档。  

还有一个重要原因,那就是美国每个巴士公司的每一辆巴士都按照“ON TIME PERFORMANCE”(意思为:准点发车准点到站)来运行,如果晚点司机将受到处罚晚点1次停工一天,晚点7次则降为替补司机,超过7次就有可能被解雇。实际上,美国的巴士是按照规范的速度行驶的。

如何做到准点运行  
江笙先生住在中山路附近,几乎每天乘坐1路公交车到师大再换乘7路或24路到南昌大学南院教英语,他发现所乘坐的1路公交车有时准时有时不准时,无法准确预测公交车到站的时间,如果离上课时间不足20分钟,就只能“打的”前往,上个月因巴士不准点他打了三次"的士"。  

据了解,美国的城市公交公司每3个月向市民公司公布新的“ON TIME PERFORMANCE”市民能够在公交车站免费领取公交车运行时间表,这个时间表很准确,例如精准到乘客乘坐和换乘的巴士同时达到站台。  公交监督员负责监督公交车的准点率,并登记各辆车的准点率。若某辆车未能按时到站,将用对讲机寻问情况。在美国遇上恶劣的天气,公交车才允许晚点5到10分钟。

Nanchang Traffic

(No one in China is exempt from the traffic grid. In the picture above, a wedding car, the military, and even the police wait with the buses, cars, and trucks, at Peng Jia Qiao bridge, near downtown)


Driving a bus in China is just a little bit different from driving a bus in America. First of all, traffic in some places is much more congested:




So sometimes it is difficult to maintain a schedule



Bus fare is 1 Yuan (RMB about 12 cents) per ride, but there are no transfers so if you need to ride multiple buses you pay each time. With a bus card the fare is 9 mao – which is .9 Yuan.

Bus Stops

The biggest thing I noticed is the stops are different,
And WAY further apart. maybe the equivalent of six blocks in some places. Sometimes there is a tremendous crowd at each stop ... and the boarding behavior is very aggressive. People run, race, push and shove to get on the bus first. Cars, motorcycles, and bicycles routinely ride through the stop without regard for whether somebody is trying to board the bus, so I've been surprised that more people don't get hit.
You can't tell from the picture above, but most stops service anywhere from 3 to 8 different lines ... sometimes all showing up at the same time. Also there are no bells/signals inside the coach, because the driver is required to stop at every stop.



And the equipment the local company uses is very diverse – although just like at SMART, the difference between one type of coach and another will be based on the route.

For example,

Some routes have very modern coaches






While others have very old equipment





Farebox

Your farebox would look like this.

Capable of using coins, bills, and single fare bus card. (Passengers with a bus card can use their bus card to pay their own fare AND a companion's fare as well)

They said it wouldn't work


Some coaches look outright strange


Many people said the single-pedesal door would not stand up to urban passenger traffic; but this coach is used on several "heavy traffic" lines, such as line number 13