Transportation Trials and Tribulations

I have mentioned in previous blog posts about the traffic challenges here in Shenzhen, this will give you something of an idea of what goes on here. There are a lot of nice, high end cars on the streets here and I dearly miss driving myself but I would not want to drive here unless I knew exactly where I was going. The other vehicles cruising the streets here are taxis and buses which are electric. China leads the way worldwide in getting electric vehicles on the road and they are everywhere here.

When I say cruising the streets it brings to mind a nice, easy drive down the road with the wind blowing your hair back and the radio blasting your favourite tune. Well I’m sorry to burst that bubble because it just doesn’t happen. The rule is…there are no rules! You want to pick up or drop off somebody, no problem, just let them off wherever. You need to make a u-turn, no problem, just do it in the street or at the corner. The guy ahead of you is too slow making a left hand turn, no problem, just sneak in beside him and beat him to it. Straddling the lane lines is common and using your turn signals is almost nonexistant. If there is gap in the traffic ahead of you, they will gun it and go for it. Merging is a big game of chicken and you can put a piece of paper in between the cars when they are trying to get in. Somehow it all works out with the occasional tooting of horns and there are surprisingly few accidents.

Bicycles abound!

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The real stars of the show here are the electric scooters. Everybody has one.

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I like to think of them as China’s Harley Davidsons without the noise! They go anywhere they want and you constantly need to watch out out for them. You need to look, look, look and look again! The one time you don’t look is the one time they will run over you and because they are electric and therefore silent, you do not hear them coming. Pedestrians have no right of way. They are a good alternative to cars to get from A to B and you see people transporting all sorts of things on them. Mothers have a six year old on the back and a toddler on the front with no helmets or other proective gear and survive the journey. It makes you think how bubble wrapped we are.

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When you order food from the restaurants and everyone does, it gets delivered by a guy on a scooter.

I must admit I want one of these things. My heart is saying ‘Oh you need one of these babies!’ ‘All my friends have one.’ My head says ‘Don’t be stupid, you will kill yourself.’ So we will see how things go before, if ever, I take the plunge and buy a scooter. Will the thrill of scooting around win out over self preservation? Time will tell!