Throwback Thursday: The Fastest Way to Get Around Town

Throwback Thursday takes a look back into Beijing's past, using our nine-year-strong blog archives as the source for a glance at the weird and wonderful of yesteryear.

We bet it probably has not been more than a week in your immediate environment since the last chit-chat or a full-blown discussion about traffic troubles in Beijing. Locals and guests are alike are spoiled with a plethora of transport, not just your usual bike-bus-train city combination. This week we look at the time when the Insider's Guide to Beijing crew decided once and for all find out who is the king of speedy transportation in Beijing.

The crew split up, going by bus, subway, taxi, scooter, bike and even on their own feet with one challenger running the commute. The chosen route was Dawanglu in CBD to Drum and Bell tower in Gulou. One might argue that a different choice of route would have led to completely different results (surely, the runner would not arrive faster than a cab if we were measuring who can get around the second ring road in the shortest amount of time).

The contestants were ranked according to time and got some pros and cons assigned to them for an even fuller evaluation. To nobody's surprise, the slowest form of transport was the bus with a commute of 1hr 41min. The old-school street giant with less than graceful manners and a non-existent schedule is great for people watching and trying to prove to new-comers that you've actually got Beijing all figured out (psst.. Baidu maps). However, put a subway ride with three transfers on one side of the scale and an hour and a half bus ride on the other and we are absolutely going for the bus. It's like an improvised sightseeing tour! 

In 6th place was the subway, followed by a taxi and a personal car, the latter two tend to be a real test of patience when the time spent stuck in traffic is at least double that driving. 

The highest scorers are, however, a true celebration for proletarians and a victory of the little ones against the machine. The respected third place went to a poor runner, who must have inhaled a year's worth of pollution and road dirt. If Beijing offices started including showers as standard within buildings, running might prove a great way to commute on blue sky days. Kudos to the runner for keeping an average speed of 18km/h. 

Second place went to the scooter, often small enough to weave between the cars, however even faster than this motorized transport was the bicycle. And not a fancy racing bike with a carbon frame but a lao Beijing bike with a front basket. The ride reportedly took 28min 10sec. Cyclists are possibly the least safe group in the city traffic, for helmet wearing is rare and they have to have their eyes peeled for scooters, pedestrians, wheelchairs and anyone driving against the traffic. However, if one overcomes the fear of death or injury, cycling in Beijing can be a truly rewarding experience.

These are but a few ways to get around town in Beijing. Possible expansions of the experiment could investigate tuk-tuks (both traditional and the madness on wheels of metal shielded ones), electric bikes, hoverboards and even skateboards. While Beijing tries to limit and control the traffic with various creative laws, the members of the public only get more inventive themselves. For your next commute, maybe just grab those sneakers.

More by this author here.

Images: the Beijinger, 4bp