September 4, 2001

• Organized Chaos

  
  

  The transportation system here in Shanghai is... chaotic - to say the least.  At least as a foreigner used to signalled and orderly lane changes, pedestrian right of way, obeyance of traffic lights and street signs, people driving about two chevrons apart, smooth traffic and everyone driving in their own lanes and in the right direction etc. (well all the above happens most of the time anyway), the absence of almost all the above in Shanghai seems a 'little' choatic.

  
  

  This is not to say that people don't do any of the above here in Shanghai, rules are followed, just not all the time!  In fact, it makes me wonder how a transportation system here that mobilizes 13 million people on a daily basis would survive without this chaos.  Here people don't just drive, they race through an obstacle course.  Everyone, from pedestrians to cab drivers to bicycle riders to buses to trucks and scooters, everyone here is playing a fancy little game on the roads that have buses dodging and weaving as if they were on a small bicycle.  There is no such thing as two chevrons here.  Space around any given vehicle is limited to less than a foot.  I could reach out the window in my bus and touch the person seated in the next bus over at practically all times.  Bicycles face the daunting task of fighting with hundreds of people alongside traffic veering left and right with only a little bell to warn people and cars of their presence.  There is no such thing as passive driving here, you don't wait for the gaps to emerge on the roads before you move, you just go and everyone just kinda moves out of the way keeping their one foot or less personal space around them.  Everyone is so aware of what's going on.  Old men with canes run across the street and big buses test oncoming traffic in the opposite lanes on a daily basis.

  
  

  The roads here all contain a bicycle lane, it's about  two meters wide.  Major roads are about 4 lanes of cars wide each side and the lanes are roughly the same width of those found in Canada, maybe slightly thinner.  The art here, is the ability to fit 5 or 6 vehicles, when necessary, at any given point across the width of these roads.  This culture has engendered a very alert cadre of people, everyone honking their horns or flashing their high beams signalling each other.  In Toronto, the horn is used very sparsely, and whenever used, people kinda turn their heads because it seems as if an accident is about to happen.  Here it is a common occurence, but I'm still caught in my old ways turning my head whenever a horn sounds (like every 2 minutes).  I'm getting better at it though.  There are still accidents every once in a while, I've only seen 3 or 4 but for so many vehicles on the road, I would have to argue that it's a pretty good rate.  One important thing is definitely to stay with the flow of things.  No abrupt moves, when someone honks behind you, looking back to see could put bike marks across your face.  Everyone just goes by a code here, abruptness screws everything up.  Get with the jive if you wanna survive.

  
  

  There are many buses on the street, so getting around is pretty easy, much easier than I had anticipated.  In any given kilometer of a major street, there are over 20 buses, all average size.  Bicycles are always plentiful and every road here in Shanghai, has its English pin yin version written underneath every road sign.

  
  

  This chaos is much better for a city like Shanghai, too much order would create a very passive cadre of people, much like Toronto's.  I think most Toronto drivers are too passive, I myself, could practically fall asleep at the wheel for 10 seconds and still be okay.  But Toronto has such a small population, nearly a fifth of Shanghai's.

  
  

  People always complain that Chinese drivers are bad, well, I'm sure that when one visits Shanghai (or other major Chinese city) and understands the level of skill the drivers here employ, they will eat their own foot, shave their ass hairs, run naked on the streets etc.

  
  

  Simon is bored right now.

  • 8:03 am
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