The next most expensive thing is a similar form of transportation— the taxi. Similar to perceptions about riding in cars, if you ride in a taxi, you are considered wealthy. The city is so big that to get from one place to another by taking the subway or a taxi takes the same amount of time, but the subway will cost you about six yuan (.90 USD), while a ride to get anywhere in the city using a taxi could cost up to 300 yuan (45 USD). I mentioned public scooters and bikes earlier, and they are exactly what they are titled. If you see one parked on the sidewalk, you go up to it and scan the bike's QR code to unlock it. The QR scan will charge you one yuan (.15 USD) per fifteen minutes, and once you're done, you just lock the bike anywhere you want and walk away. The public scooters work the same way; though there are fewer of them, the app will tell you exactly where they are so you can find the bike and scan it to use it. The most efficient and cheapest way to get around is by subway. The subway system is very fast and strategically placed throughout the city next to places that are popular, going where people want to go.
At first, getting around by the subway intimidate me, but it's so easy to use that it has become my favorite method of transportation. It has signs in English which helps me a lot. Since the subway is the most popular method of getting around, the trains are always packed. The featured photo for the article depicts a normal Wednesday evening shot showing how packed it gets. Most people in the United States say they have a personal space bubble, but in China that is absolutely non-existent.
