Trains, buses, maglev?
July 23, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Transportation , trackback
Before we had children, my husband and I traveled quite a bit – passports? Check. Plane tickets? Check. Backpacks? Check. Yes, it was that simple.
After the children arrived, we had to reset expectations of travel. We retooled our on-the-go style and slowed down the pace. Still, we vowed to continue seeing the world in our own way. Last year, we took the kids to Italy, devouring a whole lot of pasta and walking a whole lot of miles in the Dolomites.
This year, stars aligned and pointed us to China. My retired parents are spending a summer there. Our friends are interested in joining in our jaunt.
I’ve always been intrigued with the famous Silk Road, 5,000 miles of ancient trade routes that connected China and Europe through central Asia.
(image courtesy of www.easytourchina.com)
A large section of the routes closely hug hundreds of miles of harsh desert and extend over snow capped passes. Camel-led caravans carried with them silk, satins, rubies, spices, diamonds, and rhubarb. Merchants, soldiers, pilgrims, nomads, monks, adventurers, and robbers left their footprints for thousands of years.
Cultures were formed and exchanged along the routes. Various religions spread and influenced each other. Ethnicities interacted and mixed. Can history get any more romantic than that?
It also seemed that on rare occasions when I found and posted any news about what China was doing in the environmental area, controversial and passionate comments ensued. So what is really going on in the world factory? Rather than relying on various news channels, I want to find out on my own.
With bags packed, off we went.
I will start with the transportation we took. Since travel is an eco-sin I repeatedly and willingly commit, the least we can do is to take as much public transportation as possible. Aside from the flights to and from, here are the various public transit vehicles we used:
Maglev - short for Magnetic Levitation train. Though it is a public transit line, I suspect that it is probably not particularly green to operate a Maglev train.
But it reached 220 mph in 2 minutes and hit 268 mph at top speed. I have the picture to prove that. Well, even a non-technophile like me was impressed.
Not so fancy were the buses we took almost daily, most were air-conditioned and many had TV that blast advertisement at us.
Then there is the train where we spent 36 hours. A severe storm wash off a few sections of the train tracks and destablized others built on the desert sand. What else could one do other than reading books and chatting with strangers? While the tracks were being repaired, we met a South African couple who had been volunteering in the remote villages in Kazakhstan for the past 10 years. I stuttered in my head, “but, but, I, I, recycle regularly. Really. Equally virtuous, no?”
More exotic are the 3 wheeled taxis that drop you off a few miles away for 10 cents.
My favorite is when I got to be a driver for a few minutes on a water taxi.
My overall impression of the transportation greenness:
An overwhelming majority of Chinese people ride public transit to go places, whether it is buses, subways or trains.
There are very few SUVs on the road.
Private cars are seen as a status symbol. Chinese people are striving to become car owners. Ironically the traffic is so horrifying virtually 24 hours a day, driving your own car is more of a torture than pleasure. Whether one rides a bicycle, a bus or a BMW Z3, it take 30 minutes to go 5 miles.
This has nothing to do with greenness. Traffic rules seem utterly discretionary. Red light, what red light?
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Comments»
China was one of my all time favorite trips. I understand there are less bikes on the road than there was in 2003, when I was there but it was an eye opening trip. I visited Beijing, Tai An, Suzhou, and Shanghai.
The driving rules (or lack thereof) freaked me out too. But I didn’t see a single accident. I think they are more cautious with the lax rules.
Actually magnetic levitation trains are probably more energy efficient than you’d expect. It is also virtually noise free.
Unlike cars, trucks, and airplanes, Maglev does not burn oil, it is entirely operated with electricity, which can source from solar, wind or other green energy sources.
When fully utilized Maglev trains consume much less energy per passenger than cars. They also emit lower CO2 than automobiles.
The downside is that it is complicated and expensive to build a maglev line.
I found it very difficult to critize developing countries for their practices even when they are environmentally unsound. We in the west have done it all before. The developing countries are just doing it 50 to 100 years later. I understand when China or India shouts back at us for critizing the byproducts (though they are awful byproducts) of their economic growth. More ironically, we contribute to the dirty byproducts by asking and buying cheap stuff from them.
At the same time, I also want to say to the developing countries: learn from us, don’t do what we did. There is value in learning from our mistakes.
We in the west are in the position to help. But are we willing?
Heather: Indeed, there are very few bikes on the road now. I would not bike there either given the number of cars and the traffic. I saw a couple of minor accidents and a pretty tragic one. You are absolutely right in that given the “discretionary observations of traffic rules”, the accident rate is fairly low.
Conrad: Thanks for the info. Good to know. I did not look into the energy efficiency aspect of Maglev trains. Since the line in Shanghai seems to be the only commercially available one in the world, I suspect that the cost of construction and maintenance must be pretty prohibiting
Mary Ann: I completely agree with you. We need to learn from each other’s mistakes. Furthermore there are probably financial opportunities for the developed countries if they step in to help.
Fascinating. How cool that you guys went and took the kids. Eco-sins aside, it will be something you remember for a lifetime.
This was a wonderful account. Thanks for the pictures.
It is a bit sad that bicycles are becoming more of a rarity (I forget which major city banned them outright), but in time they will have to change their mode of transportation as costs (in every respect) get higher and higher.
I didn’t know that Maglevs were electric operated. Thanks for mentioning that.