Picture the scene: you’re crammed into a tight space way too small for your body, you’re panicking slightly and unable to breathe. It’s hot, sweaty, damp and humid and your senses are being assaulted by a variety of fetid smells from only God knows where. You try to move but can’t, you’re trapped inside this hell on earth and the claustrophobia begins to set in. Welcome to rush hour in China.

This description is by no means an exaggeration. The daily commute during rush hour traffic requires the patience of a saint and a bucketful of stoicism. With a population of 1.36 billion people as of 2013 and the concept of personal space being non-existent, it’s no wonder that trailing to work each and every day becomes a minefield. So, how is it possible to navigate unscathed through the melee of people using overcrowded public transport every day?

According to the Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on the 2013 National Economic and Social Development, passenger traffic rates have increased exponentially with total numbers of passenger traffic coming in at 40.2 billion – an increase of 5.6% on 2012.  Meanwhile, passenger flows (measured in kilometres) totaled 3.6 billion people, a rise of 7.9%. These figures were measured using all available transportation categorised as railways, highways, waterways and aviation. Let’s not forget motor vehicle use by civilians, which by the end of 2013 stood at 137.4 million, an increase of 13.7% whilst privately owned motor vehicles came in at 108.9 million, an increase of 17%. Reflecting on the fact that these figures take into account low-speed trucks and tri-wheeled vehicles, not cars, the total number of cars for civilian use was 71.2 million (a 19% increase) with privately owned cars making up 64.1 million equating to a 20.8% increase – in just one year those figures are astronomical. Easing traffic congestion however is a challenge that the government has vowed to tackle head on, acknowledging that the development of public transit systems must be prioritized to improve people’s quality of life as well as improve the provision of services.

Causes

There are a number of factors at play that have affected not only rush hour but public transport in general. Mass urbanization has no doubt contributed to the appalling traffic congestion that we see in China, but  rising incomes, as well as a national policy on increasing vehicle ownership in order to boost the economy have all had an important role. Zhong-Ren Peng, Ph.D. Director at the Center for Advanced Spatial Information Research and Associate Professor for the Department of Urban Planning based in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, carried out a study which found that the average speed in Beijing has deteriorated rapidly over a number of years:

“… The average traffic speed was 45km/hour in 1994, 33km/hour in 1995, 20 km/hour in 1996, and 12 km/hour in 2003. On some arterial roads, the speed has dropped to 7 km/hour. During the rush hours, about 20 percent of roads and intersections are in total gridlock and the traffic speed is less than 5 km/hour. The average speed of buses in major central cities has dropped from 30-35 km/hour in the 1950s, to 20-25km/hour in the 1970s, 14-20km/hour in the 1980s, to 10-15km/hour in the 1990s. In 2003, the average bus speed was about 9.2 km/hour in Beijing, and 10 km/hour in Shanghai in 2004.”

Increased security

Due to several security issues this year on the mainland – the Kunming knife attack, bus bombings, Urumqi terror attacks – security on public transport has been amped up making it an even more arduous process when traveling at peak times. All train stations now vet each ticket holder to ensure their identification matches their ticket before allowing them into the station and at subway stations, the luggage x-ray machines are being enforced now more than ever. Some 1000 non-uniformed security personnel are now riding the bus routes with surveillance cameras also being installed. Although this is obviously a huge added benefit as it increases public safety, it somewhat slows down the traffic process even more as queues build rapidly at these bottleneck points.

Passengers awaiting a security check at Beijing’s Tiantongyuan North Station during morning rush hour earlier this year just after the attacks in Xinjiang.

Personal space

Unfortunately, not a great deal can be done to alleviate the lack of personal space; however you may be able to manage it a bit better. If you regularly take the subway or bus to work, then having ample reading material or an MP3 player can be a good way to ignore your surroundings.  It helps to be able to blot out things that can add to your stress levels and given that rush hour is the most stressful time of day, anything that allows you to arrive at work anything but flustered is worth a shot. Just be careful to hold on to all of your personal belongings – cramped public transport is a pickpocket's dream.

Standing nearer to the doors

Nobody wants to be shoved any further onto a bus, train or subway than they have to be unless there is a good chance of getting a seat for a large proportion of your journey and so standing near the doors often allows for a modicum of space. If you shuffle off when others do to allow them to exit and then get straight back on, this can be an ideal way of maintaining an area close to the doors thereby making it much easier when you need to get off and also marginally better to be crammed against a wall than numerous other people … but beware, make sure that you CAN actually get back on if you opt for getting off when others do.

However, the down side to this is the constant jostling when people are exiting/entering so if your journey is lengthy, moving further inside the carriage/bus may actually be more comfortable if it means maintaining one small area of space for yourself. And there’s always the minimal chance of grabbing a seat if someone seated opposite you gets up to alight. Whatever works best for you.

If all else fails and you just can’t bear rush hour at all, then why not try this and gauge how successful it is!

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: rush hour in China surviving rush hour