I didn’t believe it. They always told me the subways were newer, cleaner, and overall better there, but I always thought to myself, “How clean can they possibly get?” The streets of the city itself didn’t give me any reason to believe something so similar to the NYC subway systems would be a hundred times cleaner.
The moment I stepped into the subway station in Beijing, I understood what everyone was talking about. The station had just been constructed a few months ago so it was very new compared to the ones we have here. The floor was still shiny and the ticket machines had no visible residue or marks on it. It was incredibly clean even though there weren’t any garbage cans; there weren’t any papers, bottles, or any other type of junk thrown on the ground. The train itself is a whole different story; the train was just as clean and extraordinary as the station itself; there was no dirt on the window sills, drinks left behind, or stains on the floor. I was able to talk at a normal volume since I didn’t have to compete with the sounds of the trains running on the tracks. Furthermore, cellular devices still had connection even when the trains were in motion. Fares are also much cheaper and fairer because you pay for how far you are travelling.
How was all this possible? All this was so shocking to both my family and me and we were definitely unaccustomed to it. But hey, I wouldn’t mind commuting around the city on a train as clean as theirs everyday!
Wonder what the subway train would look like a year later, or two? Would it stay clean?
I know right? I mean, although the subway system in NYC has been around ever since like 100 years ago, it is still TOO dirty with the rats and things of that kind. I’ve been to many cities, and I’ve never seen any of those subway systems this dirty and noisy and crowded! Ok, maybe for the crowded part, every city is the same.
Traveling in other cities is always an interesting experience. I’ve heard a lot about how much better the subway system in China is compared to the one in New York. I like how you focus in on the condition of the ticket machines. When I traveled to Washington DC I had a similar reaction. The subway system was cleaner, cheaper and far more efficient than the New York’s and it’s more than a few years old. Good piece!
Ever since European subway platforms introduced protective glass doors for safety concerns, the subway stations in Shanghai and Beijing started to install these devices as well. I wonder how modern subway stations would look like in 10 years.