Harbin Busses

I recently blipped a pic of the Human Snow Ploughs and someone commented that the busses in the background looked a little like British busses except for the Chinese writing. I decided to blip a REAL harbin bus to see if the comparison was realy true.

THIS.. is a very typical Harbin bus and a little about bus travel here in Harbin.

Harbin is a city of about 9.3 million people and there are hundreds of busses going every which way all the time. Most busses run about every 5-10 minutes from what I can work out. There are no actual time tables except to say when the busses start and finish each day.

When a bus arrives, there is a virtual stampede for the door because there may just be ONE seat left. Gender and age matter very little in the push and shove to be first on the bus and hence the best possiblilty of getting to sit down. If you are lucky enough to already be on the bus and sitting you get to watch people literally run to the available seats.

There is no "ladies first" or "Stand for a lady" (although I always do thanks to my mother's manners lessons) and have even been horrified to give up my seat to a lady only to have her husband sit in it before her.

Most busses are uncomfortable and very dirty. A lot of the hard fought for seats are broken or covered with dirty and torn seat covers. There is no heating in the busses except for the windscreen.

And so.. to what can be seen in the photo.

You can see how dirty the floor is because of the dirty snow that gets carried in. You can also see the quality of the seats on the right. The windows look like they are frosty but it is actually ice that has formed on the inside of the windows because it is so cold inside the bus. Everyone's breath frosts inside the bus and because so many people ride the bus in one day, their breath on the windows eventually becomes ice.

Like I said... I am not sure if our busses are like British busses.