Airport Transport

[Madot]

Anyone ever hear of "Viator" or the "Grey Line"? I found them on the web where they advertise reasonably prieced pick-up at Beijing airport. My husband is arriving for a visit and he doesn't know a single word of chinese so I didn't want him to have to face Beijinger taxi drivers at 11.30 p.m. The Xijiao Hotel says they do not have a shuttle service. Any ideas how to get to the Xijiao at that late hour WITHOUT hassles? Anyone know of a reputable car service?

Mado:help

[adrianlondon]

Email him the name of the hotel in chinese characters and tell him to print it out and show the cab driver. Tell him to check that the meter says "10.00" around 30 seconds after the cab starts, and if not, for your husband to point to the meter and just waggle his finger at it

Price should be around 100-120K in the evening with little traffic. I think. There'll be a toll fee (10K?) on top of the meter charge. Taxi drivers don't expect a tip; that's handy as it means you don't need to say anything when you pay Just hand over a couple of 100K notes and wait for all your change.

[imron]

After 11.00pm there might be a a 1RMB surcharge added to the flagfall so it might be 11RMB (or does the surchage begin after 12.00 - I forget).

[Madot]

Thanks for that, Imron. But can I repeat my original question: has anyone ever heard of Viator or the Grey Line???

Mado

[roddy]

Grey Line are an established tour firm - never dealt with them personally, but I've seen them advertising for years. I'd be happy to give them a shot if I needed a late night airport pick-up like that. Viator seem to just resell Grey Line services, so I'd skip the middleman and contact Grey Line direct. A private car might cost a little extra, especially through an agency, but well worth it if it means a good first impression of Beijing.

Re taxi prices: Rates rise after 11pm, and if I remember correctly flagfall is 11Y and the per km rate goes up to 2.40Y - which will rise again to 3.6Y after 10(?) km, so you could be looking at substantially more than the usual quoted figures if you take a cab.

Also, and I don't know how common this is, the only time I've seen a shortage of cabs at the airport is when arriving late - meaning you had to wait for however long, or take a chance with one of the guys hanging around (who aren't all bad - but it's not something I'd recommend doing, especially not on a first trip with no Chinese)

An alternative is to ask any decent taxi drivers you come across for a business card - most will have them and you can call up and ask them to quote a price for a particular run. The trick is finding a Beijing cabbie who doesn't curse, spit and have lane-committment issues.