“Let’s push the bus!”
Sometimes people ask me about the weirdest thing I have experienced in China and this anecdote always comes to mind. It happened around May 2008; at that time I was a student in Beijing. One afternoon after class my friend Julia and me decided to go to Nanluoguxiang to walk around and do a little bit of window shopping. Nanluoguxiang is an alley in the center of Beijing, not far from the lakes in Houhai area. Nowadays it is pretty much a tourist trap full of the same shops you can find in all the other tourist traps in China, but in mid 2008 it was still not so crowded and was a good place to spend a sunny afternoon.
Back then Beijing had only 4 or 5 subway lines so the only way to get there was taking a bus. And that was what we did. But after a few minutes the bus stopped in the middle of the road; it seemed there was something wrong with the engine. We waited a few seconds while the driver tried to start it again, but it was all in vain. I was expecting that we would be told to get off and wait for the next bus.
At this point of the story I need to explain that Beijing buses were usually handled by two workers. One was the driver, of course, and the other was a person, usually a woman, seating in the middle of the bus and in charge of selling the tickets. (All of these ladies had the amazing superpower of knowing who had swiped the card and who needed to buy a ticket, even though they were not sitting by the entrance door and buses were always very crowded).
So, back to the bus malfunction: instead of telling us to leave, the woman in charge of selling the tickets yelled: “Everybody get off! We are going to push the bus!”. To my surprise, everybody except a few grannies got off and prepared to push the bus while the ticket lady counted: “One, two, three, push!”. I kept thinking that if this had happened in Spain people would have just left and no one would have lifted a finger.
Anyway, even though everybody helped pushing (well, except me, I was busy taking pictures of the event!), the bus didn’t move an inch, which didn’t surprise me at all, considering it was a huge bus. In the end the ticket lady gave up and told us to leave while they waited for the tow truck. Oh, and we were not refunded for the cancellation of the journey!
Ehhhhhh! I’m not surprised at the result there either. So did a tow truck come along, or did a new bus take all the passengers? How odd. XD Makes for a great story though. :)
We had to wait for the next regular bus, there was no special bus sent to pick us up or anything…
This just reminds me on how much I hate public transportations ever since Finland. Several times it happened that the bus broke down. That wouldnt be that bad except that it always happened in the middle of nowhere with -20 degrees celsius and more…
Really mot nice having to wait sometimes an hour for the next bus then and oh of course, no refund either!
Public transportation is pretty good in China, this is the only time in years that I’ve had a problem. In big cities the subway system is the best way to commute, traffic can be completely crazy in here!
Similar thing happened to me, different outcome though: we took a bus and few minutes after the bus driver headed to the station again, and we were told to change bus because ours was malfunctioning. I can’ believe the worker’s solution in your case was pushing…Even in rural Shandong the driver took full responsibility and quickly tackled the issue (first tried to fix it once) so the schedule was not affected. I think in our case everything was faced very efficiently because most people was commuting to take long distance trains, so time was an issue. I guess if we were told to push the bus people would just left and get the fastest way to the train station on their own XDDD.
Also in Shandong I saw a small truck driver lighting a fire under his truck. First I thought he was crazy, then I realized something may had gotten frozen so he had to solve the problem himself by defrosting it no matter what.
I think a same problem may be faced differently depending on where it happens and which are the feasible options there. I’m also wondering if you notice different behaviours or habits on local citizens now that you partly live in Shanghai, with respect to your weekend city. Thanks!
I haven’t noticed different behaviours between Shanghai and Suzhou, I guess it is because Suzhou is quite a big and developed city, and it is very close to Shanghai. But every time I go to other parts of China I feel every place has their own traits. For example, when I went to Luoyang (Henan province) a couple of months ago I found the taxi drivers there are very chatty, like the ones in Beijing, but unlike the ones in Shanghai and Suzhou, who normally don’t even say a word to you!
Interesting story, I have yet to see that.
I’d mostly like to comment to agree: those attendant ladies who work on buses do have amazing superpowers!
Oh, do you have attendant ladies in Shenzhen buses? I haven’t met one in ages, buses in Shanghai and Suzhou only have the driver!
Yes, the longer-distance buses do but other shorter routes don’t.
Are all buses in Shanghai only one price?
Good question. I have never taken a bus to go to the suburbs so I really don’t know. I have always paid the same price I think.
In Suzhou the price depends on the stop you get in, so it’s not really fair.
I’m more surprised that there are so many people who actually tried to help push. That is one big and long bus!
I know, I was expecting everybody to laugh at the ticket lady and then walk away…
It doesn’t look like they’re trying very hard. Maybe you didn’t snap a picture when they were putting their best effort into it. I suppose it wouldn’t have helped, but it would have been interesting if they could have made it move a bit.
It didn’t move at all! It was too large and heavy…
Come on, don’t be such a princess, there was no way that bus was going to move but maybe you could at least pretend to help! I shouldn’t be too harsh on you though, there is a fit looking guy sitting in there like a king….
What do you mean “a princess”? Someone had to take pictures so the event would be remembered, right? :P
Oh, the good old days when you had to travel around by bus to get anywhere in Beijing!
I’ve had a few crazy bus incidents, but never have I been made to do physical labor!
Yes! Do you remember when there were only 3 subway lines in Beijing? Hahaha!
That is so crazy and funny! I bet when you retell this story people find it hard to believe you. But, you do have the pictures to prove it! :) ;)
Yes! Taking pictures was definitely more important than helping everybody to push :D
We can see where your priorities lie! LOL..you are a funny woman
Haha! In all my bus rides in all the cities and countries I’ve been, only had to push once when the bus broke down on one of those scary winding mountain roads in North India. The goats, sheep and chickens got to stay in the bus though! We didn’t have much more success either but it did get ‘fixed’ and eventually we continued our slightly harrowing zipping around the crazy twists and turns of narrow roads…
Well if the road was down the mountain then it must have been easier to push than if it was up the mountain :D
Alas it broke down on the way UP!?!
This is really crazy. Anyways, it’s a good thing you took photos otherwise it’d be hard to believe. Frankly pushing a large bus to make it start doesn’t seem like the most effective thing to do, so you did the smart thing. It is kind of cool to see people in China willing to help out though, albeit for a futile cause.
You wanted to be refunded for the journey? The tickets used to cost about 1 mao with a transport card.
It was a joke! And it was 4 maos if my memory doesn’t fail me.
Ha ha laughing and laughing. Love the Chinese but boy can they be funny!!!