How To Get Around In China On A Bus

One thing about China you will love is it’s transportation options. I loved riding the bus in China. That is until the pandemic made it, lets say, somewhat unfriendly to foreigners. Most people were told (and they believe it) that foreigners created the virus and were all carriers as well. It’s easy to mislead the populace actually when they can only get news from one source (another reason to get that VPN from Astrill…hehe).

Local Buses In Small Cities And Villages

Anyway, buses where always an adventure to me especially once you left the intercity and got on the back roads and villages. The roads are often filled with pot holes and buses with blown out shock absorbers; tight squeezes and crazy head on drivers wanting to play chicken with the bus driver and cars from behind passing around blind corners will always guaranty plenty of cringe moments along your way. Honestly, you never know what you might see along the way: farmers carrying the day’s harvest, dirty with weathered faces flashing a toothless smile; old people barely able to walk and dressed in what seems to be the same clothes as all the other old people, children going to and from school with their red neck ties and school uniforms, super friendly people and some not so friendly, people that will just stare at you like you were a zoo animal, people screaming into their phones and each other, all of which makes for a really colorful and fun travel experience.

Local buses are everywhere and go everywhere it seems. And its amazing how inexpensive they are to ride. Bus fees in smaller cities normally run about 2 yuan per line outside of the tier one cities (where the price is somewhat higher). You can pay for the bus with coins, an Alipay transportation QR code or if you are a local, senior cards. Normally you pay when you enter the bus next to the driver but some lines have a second person on board that will take your fare once the bus is going. After which you can take a seat, if you can find one or hold onto one of the overhead poles.

As far as getting the bus schedules right, I always use my iPhone map app. I guess that Bing maps might also work since is not blocked in China (they sold their soul to be there). Otherwise, you can use Google maps if you’ve got a working VPN like my favorite Astrill VPN. There are also several Chinese apps that are great if you read Chinese but I assume you don’t. Nowadays, most buses are equipped with GPS so you can even get an accurate time as to when a bus will arrived at your station. And even if you are not at a station you can normally flag down your bus as it comes by outside of the bigger cities.

Intercity Buses Between Small Cities/Villages and Nearby Midsized Cities

Their are lots of intercity buses that go just about everywhere in a 25-40 mile radius. They are slow however, this is due to the large number of stops they make along the way and traveling along normal surface streets instead of the highway system. They often can be found in smaller bus stations or in some cities they have designated locations depending on the city you are going to. The fares vary but my experience was about 30 yuan for a small city 40km away. Also at these designated locations and other bus stations you can find taxis who specialize in going to a particular city. They take four people at a time and leave as soon as the car is full. These taxis are much quicker than the bus but also more expensive as well. You will see the taxi drivers with their hand made cardboard signs near to the buses soliciting everyone for riders. My experience is that they are safe albeit sometimes a little sleazy.

Long Distance Buses

Long distance buses are normally found at the larger bus stations at or near the city center. These buses are generally larger, newer and more comfortable, the seating is assigned when you buy your ticket but once aboard if seats are empty you can move around. My big issue with these and most buses in China is that the seating is Chinese sized, in other words insufficient legroom and seat width for many westerners (men in particular) so be prepared to suffer.

These buses most often make use of the highway system so the ride is pretty smooth and about as quick as possible on the road. Keep in mind that highway traffic can be impossible with delays going on for hours. It only takes one accident or mishap and you’er in for a long wait. I wouldn’t dream about getting on a highway during or around any holiday and most weekends. Trust me I’ve made the mistake several times but never again.

I will have to cut it off here but maybe in the future I will write again on this subject.