Analysis
SUBMITTED BY ARA DATE 03 - 06 - 2010

This trip has been an experience in transportation; not only in planes, trains, and motor coaches, but in taxis, subways, and city buses as well. Using these city transit systems has become a part of daily life. As not all bus and subway systems are identical, ability to navigate these systems plays a big role in our ability as tourists to see the city in its entirety. To best highlight the major differences in bus and subway systems we've seen, I've chosen to use Rome and Beijing. First it is important to have a good mental image of each of these systems, so I will briefly explain each. I have also provided images to the right of these routes. In Rome, the subway systems is a basically a cross. It has two different tracks, on running North to South, and the other East to West. The bus routes form loops which work side-by-side to cover a large majority of the city. This is all depicted in the top right image. Beijing's transportation layout is a little more complex. It has 8 main metro lines and an airport express. Some of these lines form a circuit, others are semi-circular, and the remaining lines are basically North to South or East to West lines. The bus system would be comparable to Rome's, where the buses run circular routes up and down streets. This is illustrated in the second image down on the right. In my opinion Beijing's transportation system was much more successful than Rome's. I would attribute this mainly to Beijing's highly developed subway system compared to Rome's, but also to the signage provided with it and the usability of Rome's bus system. Being that Rome's subway system is so limited for such a large city, it is crucial that its bus system is easy to use. Unfortunately I found this not to be the case. When trying to use the bus (or metro) it is helpful to have a map or diagram posted that shows the bus route. In Rome they only provided a route name and a list of stops with an arrow showing which way it was going. On one of our excursions out of the city we had to resort to the bus system, but it took us much longer than necessary to reach our destination because of the poor signage. We already knew which line we wanted, but for some reason the accompanying signage at the pick-up/drop-off point didn't seem to jive with the actual route. Point being, signage plays a big role in usability, and Rome was lacking here. In Beijing the subway system goes everywhere. Having 8 intersecting lines, such a system has a great potential for being hard to navigate. But, we found it very easy to use. All we had to do was locate an entrance to the subway (easily done because of... SIGNAGE) and once underground the maps were abundant. When purchasing your one-way ticket or limited use ticket you must use an interactive computer system. This system has a touch screen and a series of subway maps you can click through to be sure that you are using the correct line. Once underground and in to the system there is no need to come above ground until you've reached your destination. Because of Beijing's network of metros, you are generally no more than a few blocks from your destination when you take the subway. Lastly, when the subway isn't always the best mode of transportation, such as in Rome, it must be made more appealing and very easy to use. People will always prefer the subway over the bus because of its speed and the fact that the subway system generally feels newer than the bus system. So if Rome or any other city hopes to make the bus system successful, they must keep it in top shape so that it has some appeal to its potential users. As my closing thoughts on this, I would like to say that I was much more inclined to explore the greater Beijing city area because of its metro system, and was able to see a great deal of it. I of course realize that Rome can't just go an dig multiple metro systems, but what they can and should do is improve their bus system's usability so that tourists can explore more than what the metro system can provide. There is no reason why the bus can't be a successful mode of transportation too.