Discussion keeps the world turning.
On weekends in Beijing, a few subway lines are trying something new letting cyclists bring their bikes on board.
So here's what you do.
You ride to the station, you take the train and you get off right near some of the city's best greenways and cycling trails.
No driving, no hassle, just an easy connection between transit and the beautiful Anhui outdoors.
So how's it going so far, and could this be a lesson for other cities too?
Coming to you live from our studios in beijing.
This is roundtable.
I'm steve hello there.
Thanks very much for being with us today and for the show.
I'm with feifei and yushan first up.
What if your subway ride could take you and your bicycle straight to some of Beijing's best cycling routes?
Well, that is now a reality, because Beijing is now testing a new RailPlus cycling service that's what it's called that allows passengers to bring bicycles onto certain trains during certain times.
The move is designed to make cycling trips easier, greener and more connected, especially for people heading to suburban greenways and scenic riding routes.
But I think there are some questions that need to be answered.
For example, how practical?
Can public transport and bicycles really share the same space at the same time?
Because you probably know that Beijing's subways are very, very crowded during particular times of day.
But if it is successful, could this become a model for other cities too?
Could we see this as perhaps the future of urban travel in major cities?
Fei-Fei and Yushan, good afternoon to you.
Long time no see.
Hello.
I'm not clapping for myself.
I'm clapping because I'm happy to be back on the show.
It's great to see you.
We know, don't we, that cycling is a way for people to commute, to get to work in the morning and home in the evening.
We also know that it's a major hobby for a lot of people as well.
I see cyclists out on the streets here in Beijing at nighttime, but also on the weekends.
And I would say the weekends are the busiest time for cyclists to get out there and enjoy their hobbies.
Yeah.
And also in this particular area that we are located right now, on the western part of the city.
That is also one of the hot spots for the cycling cycling enthusiasts.
Traffic is a little less hectic.
The roads are still nice and wide.
The cycling roads themselves or lanes are separated from the cars.
And also it's very close to the mountains.
So they enjoy long distance cycling.
So they can cycle for like 40 to even 100 kilometers very easily.
So that's why I think this time the city is trialing out different routes within the city and also to sort of helping the cyclists to better connect to these hotspots routes in the city.
So in particular, in lines like 617 or the Changping line or the S1 line.
Right, that's part of the new rail plus cycling initiative that's recently launched here in beijing, starting since may the 10th actually, so it's very new yeah, very new and very recent.
Already there are some people trying this out, but really the service is available For now only on Saturdays and Sundays during regular operating hours, but not on weekdays or public holidays.
Unfortunately, just for now, it's still a trial.
And the idea is very simple just to help riders reach some of Beijing's most popular cycling routes more easily.
One example of how this works would be and this is explained by some cycling enthusiasts online that, first of all riders, you need to book a special subway cycling ticket through the Yitongxing app, which is the app we use to get onto subways here in Beijing.
Different cities have different apps, but here in Beijing it's Yitongxing, I think.
And select from there which station you are hopping onto the subway, from where is your destination and the roughly travel, time and number of passengers, etc.
So that's the information you need to put in in order to complete the purchase of a ticket.
You need to book it in advance.
Because for us, when we go to the subway, we just open up our app on our phone and scan and beep and go in.
But you can't do that if you're going to take your bicycle.
You need to do this before you actually arrive.
Yeah, and the ticket costs about 30 yuan, which is roughly 4 US dollars, and it covers one rider plus one bicycle for one single trip on that day.
But if you like, for example, you fail to use you, book it in advance, like you said steve, but feel like you don't need it anymore then the unused tickets can also be refunded online.
So that's how convenient it's made for writers nowadays.
I want to come back to that 30.
You want that's a flat rate, right?
Yeah okay, i want to come back to that price a little bit later because i can feel that some people might think that that's a little bit expensive, but we'll come back to that.
Okay.
So if you don't want the ticket or you don't need to need the ticket, you can get a refund there.
What else do we need to know about the process?
So I take my bicycle from my house.
I go to the station.
What happens after I get to the station?
First of all, like all Beijing subway rides, you need to go through the security screening.
And the same also apply to the bike.
And then there will be staff helping you out.
For example, they will need to place a sort of a protective cover to cover that bicycle to prevent scratches or dirt inside the station.
Or the cars.
Yeah, and the cars.
And then the passengers must use elevators.
You must use the lifts.
You can't use the elevators.
The escalators, you mean?
Yeah, the escalators.
You must use the lift and designated wide gates.
And also you are not allowed to ride the bicycle inside the stations, which is quite understandable considering how crowded
Beijing subway is.
And then you saw a video of some of the cyclists going to these kind of stations.
And you also need to sort of carry that bicycle from after you're entering the station and then on to the train.
And then, after getting off the train, you also need to carry that bike back to the lift and then out of the station, because the bikes, the wheels, are covered.
So you can't just push them around.
You have to carry it, lift it.
And also, i think they have very detailed, very detailed standard in terms of how big of a wheel you're allowed to carry on, because only standard two wheeled bicycles with wheel diameters under 28 inches are allowed, And that does not include e-bikes, power-assisted bikes and all the other bikes that has a power bank or a battery on.
Only regular bikes with very specific requirements on the size of your wheels.
And then the train cars themselves, I guess it's not any car that you can get onto.
It's specific.
I'm thinking that because it's a very specific process for you to get your bike down to the platform.
It's probably not any car.
Well, I think the staff members will guide you sort of guide the cyclists to, most of the time to the beginning or the end part of the trains.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Less crowded and more rooms.
So you don't interrupt anyone else.
Yeah.
It's not just the subways, though.
It's the high speed trains, too.
Yeah, China's railway authorities are launching a new pilot service that allows passengers to travel with their bicycles on certain high-speed trains.
Nowadays,
So cycling enthusiasts in China now have one more convenient way to explore destinations across different regions in China.
That's starting right on today, like May the 19th.
And the service is available on a lot of the G-series bullet trains running between Beijing North Railway Station and Chongli along the Beijing Zhangjiakou High Speed Railway.
So the initiative is really designed to better meet travelers, divers, transportation needs.
And of course, there's a lot to see in Chongli too.
And the way to get a ticket from that route is that you kind of need to book the service through the Railway 12306 app, just like booking a high-speed railway for your pets, if I am remembering correctly, because that service was recently launched too and you kind of need to Seek for the specific train or specific route that has a little label of pet allowed or pet friendly on it.
And similarly here, you purchase it from the app too.
After purchasing it, the travelers, the riders, they can reserve and pay for the bike carry-on service directly through the app too.
Orders can be canceled with a full refund up to one hour before the train leaves.
So you can always make a different decision if you fail to go on that train.
How much is this one?
To take it on the high speed about 88 yuan, that's roughly 13 us dollars per bicycle.
Does that include you?
I don't think so.
Um, it works like this you need to purchase your train ticket first of all, and then you add that back uh bike carry-on service to that ticket, so it's about the same price for you And the bike.
So basically pay double if you decide to travel with your bicycle to Zhongli.
So to bring the bicycle on the high speed train, are the rules the same?
Do they put a cover on it?
Or what do they do in this situation?
They sort of have like different preparation and packaging.
Yeah, a little bit different.
So first of all, they need to detach the front wheel and pack the bike in a bike bag.
So this is kind of similar.
You can do this at home yourself.
You can also go to the station, ask for free tools and reusable bikes.
At the station as well.
But you also need to remember to return these kind of tools to the station after you depart, after you reach your destination.
For the high-speed trains, it's kind of like luggage then.
Yeah, in a very similar way.
And also, there are, I think, requirements.
There are only limited capacity per train, so you need to make your booking early on.
So the earlier, the better.
And then it only applies to limited train stations right now, only to the Beijing North and between the Beijing North and Chongli, because Chongli is also one of the cycling destinations right now, especially after the Winter Olympics.
These programs seem to be coming at us more often these days, where you can bring things on to transportation that we couldn't bring before.
So it seems to be a consistent move, if I can say it like that.
Back to the subways.
How are people responding to this?
I'm guessing that cyclists are absolutely loving this these days, because I'm thinking that maybe to get to some of these specific cycling routes now, Beijing if you've never been to Beijing before, Beijing is kind of like a giant flat square.
And I said flat on purpose because it's very nice for cycling.
I came back from Chongqing recently.
It's not a place for biking.
They don't even do it.
They don't even try, from what I see.
We didn't see one bike there.
Anyway, so Beijing's a perfect place for cyclists.
But to get to these urban, sorry suburban areas for a lot of people they'll spend their time cycling to get to those areas.
And then they're spending their energy, too.
So to be able to jump on a subway train with your bike at the cost of 30 yuan, this must be very popular with Yeah, because really in recent years the outdoor cycling has become increasingly popular here in China.
And many cities, including Beijing, have already built greenways, riverside bike paths.
And just very close to our office building, there is a cycling supply spot, I believe.
There's like cafe and also gear that supply you in case you need any.
You know, amendments on your bicycle and stuff.
One of my favorite cheeseburger spots too.
Exactly.
There's a new burger place moved in.
Not related to our story today.
But anyway, for riders in Beijing nowadays, reaching those faraway cycling destinations is no longer a headache.
It's meant to make it easier for them.
So some cyclist enthusiasts such as there's one reported by Xinhua very recently.
His name is Wang Xin.
He felt both excited and amazed at the moment.
He walked out of the station, the subway station, also with a sense of accomplishment, because he later posted videos of the experience online.
And one post alone received more than a thousand likes and hundreds of comments.
So explaining that just how big of a crowd out there is looking forward to something like this.
A lot of people said they want to try themselves.
And in the future, cyclists heading from downtown to the suburbs for mountain rides could be really easily.
Take the subway for part of the journey first, instead of like previously.
Traditionally, some people are saying that I need to cycle all the way out there and then from there to cycle further to the route I want to be on.
That's what I was trying to say is that, you know, even getting to the destination would be a pretty significant trip, because Beijing is so huge that it doesn't take many subway stops to go quite a long distance.
Right.
Yeah.
And suppose, if you live, for example, in the CBD area on the eastern part of Beijing and you want to cycling, for example, to the Mentogo area in the mountains on the western side of Beijing, First of all you need to travel that 20 30 kilometers within the city.
And then you finally reach to the starting point of your cycling route.
And then you decide to cycle for about maybe 20 or 40 kilometers again.
And then you have to think about, you know, cycling back to your home at CBD.
And I think last year I saw some posts shared by these cyclists that after cycling for about 100 kilometers they got so tired they couldn't get back on their bike so they hired a truck.
To bring their bike home.
Having that moving van shape them and the bike home.
That's funny.
That's sure costing more than 30 yuan.
By the way, I asked a very stupid question this morning in the office.
My question and if you're out there wondering the same stupid thing that I was wondering this morning, here's the answer to that.
I asked oh, is this also for the city rental bicycles, like the yellow ones that we see everywhere, or the blue ones that we see everywhere?
The bike sharing?
Can you take those on the subway and then take it to the destination?
I was almost convinced that somebody would do that.
I was literally thinking about maybe I can do that.
I didn't realize it was a dumb question until I got the answer from Feifei, who said well, you wouldn't need to do that because you could just rent a bicycle at the same location.
So why would you want to take it and pay 31 to get it on the subway?
It wouldn't make any sense.
And I said...
That is correct.
All right.
So this is all the good stuff.
Any potential problems we could be looking at here?
Well, I think first of all, well, it's one of the reasons why right now the city are only launching this trial operation on weekends, not on workdays and also not on public holidays.
Too busy.
Yeah, simply because it's too busy.
For example, Line 6 is one of the busiest lines on the earth, I would bet.
You can't imagine the crowds up there.
So it's literally impossible to have some cyclists carrying his own bike.
How busy is that station?
I've not seen that one.
I've seen line one in the morning at like 7.30 a.m. from downtown from Chaoyang.
That is insanity.
You have to pretty much wait for line six.
You pretty much need to line for like six trains before you can actually reach to the entrance of that train.
Wow.
And then when you get into the train, it's like basically, you are squeezing yourself inside the cart.
No room for a bicycle.
There is little room for your bag, let alone a bicycle.
Right.
So that's one thing.
And another report that I saw on the local news here in Beijing is about some cyclists saying that when they get onto the train with their bike they need equipment to fasten their bike, because it would be very dangerous on a moving train with the bike sort of wobbling around.
So maybe in the future the subway will consider installing equipment to fasten these bicycles on the train.
And also giving them more seats for the cyclists to rest a little.
Because, pretty much, if you want to reach to your cycling starting point in Mentougou or in Changping, some of them need to take a one-hour ride to reach their destination.
So it's also a pretty long ride.
So maybe in the future, there will be more services add on to this carry-on buying services.
Well, for staff, too.
I mean, this has to be extra staff.
I'm thinking this can't be the regular subway staff because of all the things that need to be done.
The bike needs to be checked.
It needs to go through security.
I don't even know if the bike goes through the same.
Oh, by the way, if you're not familiar with that, Beijing has, and many cities do, the.
It's kind of like at the airport where you need to put your bag down and then it goes through the conveyor belt thing and comes out the other side after a screening.
I don't know if the bikes go through that same conveyor belt.
It must be a different one, I would think.
If it's the same one...
That's going to be a whole lot of extra work for the staff that's there.
Then they have to pack the bikes.
So this has to be more people involved.
Now if this becomes really popular with cyclists, You talk about lining up to get on the subway for people like you and I without bicycles.
This could become so popular that it's difficult to manage it at certain subway stations.
That is precisely the reason why I don't think this is getting any closer to dominate the market, or at least dominate the market.
The service provided by either is the metro that we talked about or high-speed rail that now also allow bicycles on.
Because I read something that described just this, very recently, that both these systems, the railway systems, they have already expanded to cover huge urban and regional areas.
Their operations are now highly mature, standardized and, in many ways, close to saturation.
So in other words, there's only very limited revenue.
These systems can already squeeze out through simply adding new lines or tweaking traditional operations.
So...
When the infrastructure and operating models are already highly developed, like this, the next step for these systems, for them to earn a bit more, is to improve their innovation in terms of services.
What else they can carry?
The pets.
Like designing just a designated train cart or the entire train just for elders to travel.
We talked about that on Roundtable previously too.
And also there are nowadays the service for bicycles.
These are all, there's a term you used earlier, Fei-Fei, that I deeply agree on. add-on services.
They add value.
They are value-added services built on top of the railway's original transportation role, but they can never replace it.
The priority always lies in transporting more people, more passengers, with higher efficiency, not the pet, not the bicycle.
So yeah, this could be one challenge that it is facing.
Well, given that it's still on trial and it's only allowed on weekends.
And it's not really not, according to our knowledge, that is covering a larger network only on a few lines so far.
And I don't I don't necessarily think it will be it will be necessary on the inner ring road lines.
What if there's a market out there?
But why would I'm just trying to.
Yeah, I'm not disagreeing.
I'm just trying to think out loud.
Like would somebody who's going to work in the morning?
Would they want to take their bicycle on the subway with them?
And then with the thought of maybe I'm going to bike home after work.
Would that be a popular thing to do?
I mean, I guess so.
Yeah, but for me, that would be missing the point.
If you are talking about commute, it would be missing the point of you cycling to work.
If you're deciding to take on the subway and then cycle to your work, maybe back to your home later in the day, then the goal for this kind of cycling commuting activity is to get exercises.
But if you are taking on the subway, deciding to going through the crowds during peak hours, that's not really.
Maybe exercise is on another level, but it's definitely not the exercise that you're looking for.
Mental gymnastics.
Yeah, exactly.
All right.
I said I want to come back to the cost.
Let's talk about this now.
Now, 31 per trip, right?
Mm-hmm.
Now, when you buy a regular subway ticket, you are charged by distance, right?
If I'm going four subway stops or five or six or whatever, I'm going to pay a certain price.
If I'm going 25 subway stops, I'm going to pay a higher price.
This is not the case here.
You pay 30 yuan and that's the flat rate.
Do people have any kind of issue with this price at all?
Some would think that this is not really worth it, because there's one cyclist that's interviewed by Workers Daily who said that if he only needs to ride the subway for a stop or two during his regular commute, then paying 30 yuan definitely is a bit more higher in terms of price than he expected.
But for weekend cycling trips to suburban scenic routes, it's totally worth it.
Getting a taxi can cost way much more than $30 for sure.
It's cheaper than renting a truck to bring your bike home.
So instead of spending hours riding along or paying more to hire a ride, then yeah, 30 yuan is reasonable if you see it that way.
Look, he's not wrong if he's only going two subway stops.
Then why not cycle that?
Well, no, exactly.
It's kind of not that far if it's only two subway stops.
So you wouldn't even bother taking the train anyway.
So people then tend to feel that this is a pretty affordable, reasonable price.
Reasonable, more like.
Yeah.
And I also think the price is acting as a control of demands.
Even though it's on weekends, even though it's only limited to a few lines or only a few stations.
We're still talking about Beijing subway network.
Even on weekends, it can be very busy.
So I would imagine it's also a way for the operators to try to control the demands so not too many bicycles are sort of taking up space on the train so that passengers won't be able to get on.
People will start to complain about that.
Yes.
So the subway is, you know, by and large, a commute and transport system for people, first of all.
And then we can talk about bicycle.
I think you should talk about that.
Humans first, bikes and pets second.
All right.
So if this goes well in Beijing, then could this be a model for other places?
Yeah, definitely.
It's where an urban transportation model really becomes more flexible, integrated and people-centered.
At the end of the day, it's always about elevating the efficiency of transportation and how people can get to travel faster and more easily.
One other big takeaway is that the cities nowadays, they are starting to think more seriously about how different modes of transport can work together.
Instead of treating the subway as subway and bicycle as bicycle and and the high-speed train is only high-speed train nowadays, these are integrating into one system that can collaborate, that can communicate.
And now we see Beijing is experimenting with ways to just connect them into a smoother travel experience altogether.
So this is where we're heading.
And hopefully in other cities this can be put into practice too.
What do you think about the 88 yuan price for high-speed rails for your bicycles?
If my bicycle costs 88000, then yes, it's very much worth it.
There are bicycles that cost $88,000 and more.
Yeah, it seems high, doesn't it?
Because it's like the same price that you paid to put yourself on the train.
But I don't know, Fei-Fei, what do you think?
Do you think people will turn up their nose at that price?
Well, I think, first of all, if you're deciding to cycle to a different city, for example, if you're living in Beijing and you decide to go to Chongli for the weekend to cycle that won't happen every day, even not on every weekend.
So it's more about if you decide to go to a different place.
First of all, it must be something attracts you to go there.
For example, maybe the sceneries in Chongli is very different from you normally see here in Beijing.
And then maybe the 88 yuan of ticket price will be acceptable, when you thinking about is basically also taking up the same space as a human being on the train.
So it sort of makes sense as well.
And then also you don't need to hire a van.
You can open up your imagination and also itinerary thinking about.
Maybe that's an option for me today as well.
I can go to Chongli and see how the Winter Olympics look like.
In summers it's also very nice.
So i wouldn't say the price is originally 13 us dollars.
I think for most of the cyclists who are willing to pay tens of thousands of yuan for their own bicycle, I mean the AT81 seems more affordable than the bicycle and also other gears.
I mean, the glasses, the hats, the helmets.
I think, too, we often see cars with the bicycle strapped to the roof.
They're traveling somewhere for their cycling, for their hobby, right?
If they can leave their car at home and put the bike on the train and avoid all that traffic and all that logistical nightmare stuff from the weekend, then this could be really popular.
Really, really popular.
Allowing people to cycle in parts of the country that maybe they've never even been to before.
So that's kind of a cool thing.
I think the whole thing is kind of a cool thing and i hope it really goes well.
