07.23.08
Posted in Beijing, Travel Log (Asia) at 9:48 am by Benjamin Ross
In anticipation for that particular event which will be coming upon in Beijing on 8/8/08, the new transit line connecting Beijing Capital Airport with the city subway system was opened on Saturday. On Monday I had to catch a flight to Wenzhou and decided to check it out first hand.
Please excuse the quality of the images. Thanks to a particular 坏蛋 in Dalian, I had to take them using the digital camera on my Treo.
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| The new route has only 2 stops en route to the airport, Dongzhimen station along lines 2 and 13 and Sanyuanqiao along the new Line 10. |
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| Back in the “Old Days,” a cab ride from the airport to the city center could cost in upwards of 100 RMB. Tickets for the shuttle are currently selling for 25 RMB, as opposed to 2 RMB for all other subway fares. |
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| Like most places in Beijing these days, security is tight when boarding the shuttle, and all bags are scanned by X-Ray。 |
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| Similar to Beijing’s other new subway lines, the airport shuttle has a safety wall sealing off the tracks from the boarding area on the platform. I arrived on the platform, and began waiting at exactly 7:30 pm. |
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| After a fifteen minute wait, the train pulled up at the station at 7:45. Originally I had been expecting carriages similar to those of the regular subway lines. But as soon as you step foot in the airport shuttle, you will see where your extra 23 RMB went. This ride is posche! |
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| Wide, plush, seats, plasma TV’s, this train is everything you would expect from a city trying to make a positive first impression on out-of-town visitors. The ride is smooth; the carriages are quiet; and the journey is fast. Looking out the window, I noticed we were moving at the same speed, if not slightly faster, than most of the traffic on the highway. |
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| The train runs both underground and above ground at different points, and seemed to have pretty good cell reception along the way. |
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| The only negative I could draw from my experience on the shuttle was its slightly Chinglish infused name…ABC. The letters stand for “Airport Beijing City.” Get it? ABC?…I would have been content at just calling it “Airport Shuttle,” “Line 15,” or something else not nearly as overly creative. |
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| The shuttle arrived at the new Terminal 3 at 8:03–just 18 minutes from departing Dongzhimen. Including my wait, that’s exactly 33 minutes from Dongzhimen to the airport. Based on my single experience, this is going to be an exceptionally efficient way to shuttle passengers between the airport and downtown. At least for me, I know I will never be taking another taxi or a bus from the airport to the city center ever again. |
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ThoHa
said,
July 23, 2008 at 11:02 am
It depends a lot on where you are coming from: Arriving in T3, taking the train to Dongzhimen, changing to another subway line, walking the rest of the way from the subway station to your home… instead of a usual 40 minutes, I was in for 75 minutes Saturday, and what would have cost 75 RMB by taxi was 27 RMB now. Still ok, but it could be more efficient if they would not go from T3 to T2 first, creating a detour that is slightly annoying. If several people are travelling together, I would still say the taxi is more efficient – especially now that the waiting lines are much shorter because of the train.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 23, 2008 at 11:21 am
@ThoHa
Interesting point about the terminal detour. I was going to T3, so it wasn’t an issue for me. I think the main problem with the new terminal is simply that it is so far from the other one. When I first flew into China on this trip, I had to transfer from terminal 2 to terminal 3. I took the inter-terminal bus, and about 10 minutes into the ride, I started to worry that I had accidentally taken the bus back to the city. I asked a few Chinese passengers sitting around me, and they were having the same fears. After about 15 minutes, we arrived at terminal 3. Seems like an awfully long distance between two terminals in the same airport.
Spencer
said,
July 24, 2008 at 11:56 am
How comfortable would the shuttle be if you had several pieces of luggage? Are there luggage racks?