Strategy makes mass transit a moving and cheap experience

I differ in many ways from most laowai living in Beijing, and one of them is my heavy reliance on public transportation.

Foreigners on fat expatriate packages typically have private drivers take them everywhere, while other laowai with relatively good salaries often commute by taxi. I fall into the second category, but probably used a cab just a half dozen times last year.

Thanks to their extremely low fares, buses and subways are simply too good a deal to pass up. When I lived in Dongzhimen, I commuted by bus to my office in the Ming Ren Plaza just east of the Bird's Nest stadium. Getting there and back home cost just 8 yuan a day; that amounts to slightly less than 2,000 yuan a year. In contrast, commuting by cab would have cost 50 to 55 yuan a day, which amounts to 13,000 yuan a year.