Harbin Bus Maps

[muoji]

Where can I find a map of the bus routes? Are they only in Chinese or do they have pinyin as well?

[edelweis]

I don't know about a map of the bus routes, however you can use google maps:

http://maps.google.fr/maps?q=%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E9%BB%91%E9%BE%99%E6%B1%9F%E7%9C%81%E5%93%88%E5%B0%94%E6%BB%A8

If your browser has English (or other western) locale, it should show some pinyin or English along with Chinese characters.

With the right mouse key, pick your starting and ending point, then ask for an itinerary. Then click the bus/train icon in order to get a bus route. It looks like the station names are shown in Chinese characters only, but there are tools to get the pinyin from that...

[abcdefg]

Where can I find a map of the bus routes? Are they only in Chinese or do they have pinyin as well?

You can usually buy a city map from a street vendor near the train station for 1 to 5 Yuan. The map has the bus route numbers on it. Names are only in Chinese, however, except for a handful of major tourist destinations.

The way it works is that you find your destination, for example St. Sophia Cathedral there in Harbin, and beside it will be the numbers of the busses that go there. The bus route is not marked out per se with a colored line all its own. Often there is a side panel on the map that has the bus routes listed in numberical order along with their stops. All in Chinese again.

Disclaimer: I'm not in Harbin now, but bought such a map when there 3 years ago. Have bought them in quite a few other cities as well. I usually make a point of getting one in places I'm visiting so as to get a better feel for the urban layout if nothing else.

I personally find those maps difficult to use for bus routes because of the very tiny type size usually employed. You can usually buy a bus route booklet, again from a vendor near the train station for 1 to 5 Yuan, that has the bus routes and their stops in a more legible type size. But it's all Chinese. That's usually called a 公交线路手册 = gōngjiāo xiànlù shǒucè.

The Google/Baidu trick @edelweis mentioned works well too for planning a route before setting out and I use it as well.

[kala]

The following link might be of some help: http://www.s18.cn/

Clicking on 哈尔滨 leads to http://www.s18.cn/Bus/Harbin.asp