Frying Pan and Fire: Beijing Voted World's Second-Worst City (for Locals and Taxis)

Steven Schwankert | May 23, 2014 8:00 am | 7 comments | 6233 reads

Earlier this month, users of travel review site TripAdvisor voted Beijing the fourth-best city in the world in its 2014 Travellers' Choice Destination Awards. This week, TripAdvisor's World City Survey named Beijing the second-worst city in the world for friendly locals, best taxi service, and friendliest taxi drivers.

If only we could take issue with those results. Luckily pollution was not one of the categories voted on by the 54,000 travelers who participated in the survey. Beijing failed to place in top three for any of the categories, which also included cleanest streets, ease of getting around, and comfort of traveling alone.

Beijingers can feel the cushion of Muscovites breaking their fall: only Moscow was worse in the same categories where Beijing was found wanting, and the Russian capital was voted worst in five categories, the most of any city. Topping the list was Tokyo. That should go down well here. Especially among Beijing's friendly local taxi drivers.

Photo: China.org

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 13:38

My guess is 99% of our readers take taxis approximately 10x as often in Beijing than they do anywhere else they've lived in the world.

For all the claptrap about smelly drivers, taxi scams, poor sense of direction, etc, I give the taxis here a 7 out of 10.

It's because we ride in taxis so much that we have a lot of gripes about drivers -- when you're in a cab 2-4x a day every day of your life, you are going to run into the occasional bum.

The only thing I really can't stand is being driven by, but I am also way beyond blaming it on "racism" or because I look like I don't speak Chinese. Drivers that don't pick you up are doing it because they are headed for a more profitable fare via one of the booking apps.

 

 

 

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mtnerror's picture mtnerror Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 12:26

@Steven: I wasn't proffering about a payment stysem, but rather what I believe are the main factors which lead to passenger displeasure and the subsequent rankings (aka, minimize the miscommunication that's bound to occur when short-term tourists visit Beijing, confusion of tagging along in a new city). What you point out about the Batong card readers not consistely functioning across many taxis is something which would lead to dissatisfaction, I'm sure. I don't see where we have disagreement or how my viewpoint differed from TripAdvisor voters. (On a side note, I'm not sure how likely it is that those who use TripAdvisor consistently are in Beijing long enough to warrant the purchase of a Batong card -- especially if they're viewing reader feedback which states the taxi's machine may or may not reliably function...)

britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 09:58

Amazing how relative this kind of thing is... Yeah, Beijing certainly doesn't compare favorably with other cities internationally--in most cases there's no comparison at all, in my opinion--but when compared with cities locally, Beijing sure ranks pretty high. Nearly every person I talk to--Chinese, I mean--who isn't from 'round here, came to Beijing because of the better living conditions and work opportunities compared to their home cities/towns/villages.

Was chatting with my cleaning lady this morning; she gets nearly a call a week from old classmates/friends back in her hometown. And her "hometown" isn't exactly a town--it's one of China's smaller "big cities". (I remember visiting that particular city on business about ten years ago; on the surface it looked like most other typical Chinese cities of a few million or so--but living standards and opportunities just can't compare to Beijing.) All the classmates/friends that call are asking about whether she could find them work there in Beijing, because the opportunities and living conditions where they are... well, it just doesn't compare.

Granted, those that come here have to be prepared to work like mad to make it--and when those classmates/friends realize the hard life my cleaning lady and others here have to make a good living here, it does give them pause. But I'm often amazed at the contrast in perspectives between the international community and what we're comparing Beijing to, and the 外地 Chinese who see it as something of a promised land of work, culture and actual cleanliness.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Steven Schwankert's picture Steven Schwankert Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 09:35

Mtnerror, I would love to agree with you. But in this case, I'm going to side with TripAdvisor voters. For example, any Beijing taxi should be able to accept payment not only by cash, but by Batong/subway card. But of course, they've turned them off, or broke them, or just won't use them. I can't imagine that the kind of app you mention would be received differently.

There is an alternative. Early feedback from non-Chinese-speaking users indicates that Uber solves a lot of these problems: driver knows where to go, payment is done through the company, all you have to do is get in and get out. It's about triple the price, so that may be an issue. http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2014/04/25/uber-car-service-arrives-beijing

mtnerror's picture mtnerror Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 08:49

One of these days, an app developer is going to enjoy a lot of success when they create an English-language interface for passengers to input their destination, have the option to be shown real-time traffic info. and choose between shortest possible distance vs. least amount of time spent in the taxi, and then have all of this be sent to the driver via Bluetooth or NFC or some other means and the selections come up in Chinese for the driver. The driver then clicks "OK" and begins to drive. The distance and fare will be estimated and if the driver goes significantly off course or doesn't take the route the customer selected (if they selected a specific route) then a deduction option can be selected towards the end.

Aggregate data can also be accummulated about the driver by way of touchpad selection from the passenger, such as demeanor, friendliness, driving skill, etc. This number or color code can be seen by passengers as they climb into the taxi, or if they wish, simply viewed and they are not forced to get into the car if they don't want a 2 out of 5 driver, for example. The data is relayed to a sort of wireless card or keychain which the driver wears and is unique to only him/her. They later sync it up with a device at the taxi company HQs which tracks the driver's numbers; those who score low are suspended from driving. The data and its submission is encrypted/unique and can't easily fall victim to tomfoolery.

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