Beijing Subway

There are two major subway lines in center city Beijing. The blue line (ignore the map's green) forms a rectangle/oval shaped loop under the second ring road which encompasses much of the main mass of the urban center. The red line is a line segment that cuts east-west through the center of the city. The Red line stops inside of the blue line oval are the most highly trafficked. Commuters are dense enough that it was deemed worthwhile to build miles and miles of video screens on the inside of the subway tunnels that can be seen from the subway car windows. The frames of the screens are staggered and aligned to the cruising speed of the subway cars so that when at full speed, from the subway car, it looks as if you are watching a stationary television.

The two change over stations that allow switching between the blue ring line and the red east west line are the busiest stations. The two are always hideously packed from about 8:30am to 9pm or so. Again, forgive the poor cinematography. I was being mashed on all sides by shoulders and bodies and was trying to be at least a little discreet about public video recording. Overall, Beijing has not left me with the impression of unbearable crowdedness and overpopulation that I expected. These two stations are clear exceptions.

-Winkler