Rush Hour

A guest post from the other half...

Today was my first experience with the Shanghai subway system during rush hour. We have had previous experiences with this transportation system that felt quite crowded, so I felt somewhat superior to all those who were telling us "you don't want to commute on the subway at rush hour - it's way too crowded." Well, I have been put in my place. Let me describe.

I needed to go to a meeting "across the river" this morning, so I decided to take the subway as a test of my commute, albeit in reverse (since we currently live near my office, and this meeting was near our soon-to-be home). I arrived at the nearest subway station and awaited the train, which arrived in less than 30 seconds. The station was pleasantly crowded for those who like major city transportation centers during rush hour (I confess to being such a person). Many people exited the arriving train, so it was not too difficult to get on the train - still just pleasantly crowded.

One stop later, we arrived at People's Square. This is the central hub of the system - where the two main lines "connect". The quotation marks are there because this "connection" requires more walking than many cities' systems require to walk from one stop to the next. Since I needed to transfer, I joined the crowd headed towards "line 2".

Unfortunately, the crowd I was in quickly came up against the crowd heading toward "line 1". Our crowd of hundreds came up against their crowd of thousands, and with no Alamo to hunker down in and await our noble end, we tried to push through. I was in a conga line about 3 wide snaking through a mass of humanity completely filling the tunnel. We shuffled along, occasionally coming to complete stops as we would approach stairs or a gate of some kind. This stroll of 5 or 10 minutes became a shuffle of closer to 20 minutes.

Eventually we arrived at line 2. The Shanghai subway system cleverly marks the locations where all the doors will be opening when the train arrives, and at each of these soon-to-be doors, there was a group of about 50 people waiting to board the train. That's 50 people at each door. When the train arrived (within a minute of my arrival), the subway police bellowed through their blowhorns to let people off first (advice that, while sensible, seems to be a general rule only in the most rational of societies - say, Austria). So the piles of people waiting to board let a pile of people spill out of the train and then attempted to squeeze a few more out like a last dollop of toothpaste by pushing in from the sides. The mad scrum ensued as 50 people attempted to fill a space that could reasonably hold 20. About 30 are able to squeeze on, the last few by literally pushing the pack in front of them as hard as they can (picture Sisyphus working his way up the mountain). A couple folks nearly lose limbs or digits as the doors begin to close; one or two more are forced to disembark and await the next train. I was just behind Sisyphus in the mad scrum at my chosen door, so I waited. Now I am at the front of the door space, so when the next train arrives (just moments after the last one departed, I am able to hold back the crowd momentarily to allow the new arrivals to get off before being carried by the tide into the depths of the train.

I stand, getting to know the shape of the 6 people in immediate contact with me better than I would have liked, looking over the sea of black hair bobbing and weaving with the movements of the train as we pass under the Huangpu River.

At my stop, I am still pressed against the doors opposite the exit doors. I am forced to somewhat violently push my way out (no one is offended or really even takes notice of this sort of pushing; I believe it is rather common in China to be pushed around by strangers - and I don't even mean that as a political comment). I peel off like the skin from a banana and head to the nearest Starbucks to remind myself that I am still an American, despite the blending that surely occurred in the Shanghai subway sardine.

I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I doubt I will ever consider it "pleasantly crowded."