The Beijing Metro has a name for being efficient and cheap, but my last experience with it was one of overcrowding and frustration.

One of our friends explained that the government had recently dropped the price on the subway (in about March), leading to a sharp increase in passengers. Apparently the overcrowding was a direct result of this. I hope they manage to find a solution to this before the Olympics.

A picture of a Beijing subway train by jcortell.

As I said, the Beijing Metro has (or had) a good name and is the recommended form of transport in Beijing. I haven’t used it much, but I’ve heard enough people say that to know it must be true (and let’s face it, it’s not hard to beat the Beijing traffic).

Anyway in this photo, the train appears pretty crowded, but believe me, I’ve seen worse, especially on other forms of transport.

I have a half written post somewhere, titled Bush Crush, about an experience where I couldn’t even get both feet on the ground (yes, I was standing). I’ll have to finish that post off!