People Carrier/Van size Taxis in Beijing

[pprendeville]

Are there large spacious taxis, enough to accomadate 3 adults, 3 children under 3 and 3 or 4 suitcases available to take from Pudong airport or are all taxis the regular size cars (meaning we'll have to take 2 seperate taxis). Here in Dublin taxi drivers use their own private vehicles & just buy a taxi license so it's fairly easy to find large people carrier style taxis.

[pprendeville]

Sorry, Beijing Capital airport.

[pprendeville]

Actually, does the metro go to BJ Capital airport? Also, I suppose the option of taking a bus into LiuLiQiao exists. How long would a bus take to get there leaving airport at 16:00 on a Wednesday?

[edelweis]

have a look at this thread regarding underground and shuttle bus:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35581-approximate-travel-times-of-beijing-capital-airport-shuttle-bus/

I don't remember seeing large taxis in Beijing but that was 3 years ago...

Anyway with luggage and small kids, plus jet lag, I'd recommend taxis.

[jbradfor]

I'm not sure how one would arrange it in Beijing, but have you considered reserving a hired car? I would guess it would cost about the same as, if not less than, two taxis.

[i do not recall seeing any minivan taxis in Beijing, but then again, I wasn't really looking for one either.]

[imron]

The metro does go to BJ Capital airport, but it's probably an experience you don't want to go through with 3 kids and lots of luggage (the changeover point when you get of the Airport line is very inconvenient). There are private "taxi" operators with larger vans, but they are not licensed and likely to take you for a ride with payment so you'll pay far more than just taking a couple of normal taxis.

I'm not sure if there are any large size, registered taxis, but even if not, 2 normal taxis is still going to be quite reasonable. As for how long it will take by bus, I've no idea where LiuLiQiao is, but to the city center it takes about an hour by shuttle bus, maybe a bit longer if you hit peak hour traffic.

[roddy]

Assuming this is bringing your family over and taking them to your wife's family in Shijiazhuang (do I remember correctly) then I'd ditch the idea of shlepping around Beijing and transferring to buses at Liuliqiao (which is a long-distance bus station out past Beijing West). Get your wife's family to hire a minivan and driver in Shijiazhuang (cheaper than getting one from Beijing, and you'll pay for a round trip either way) to come out to the airport and meet you - Google maps has it as a four hour drive, it's not implausible. You'll have someone to help you with luggage and you'll skip the taxi to bus transfer and the city center traffic. Don't know what it'll cost, but I bet it's a better value for money option. The in-laws could even come along to meet you.

If you really want to get to Liuliqiao, I doubt you'll find a taxi large enough to take you all at the airport, but you could arrange a minibus or something to pick you up. Do a search for Beijing airport pickup, although the options you find in English are unlikely to be the cheapest. Liuliqiao is on the subway, but... meh, wouldn't be any fun.

[pprendeville]

Good suggestion. Just one question. If we end up taking bus do we have to pay fees for the kids (all under 3 years of age). What's the story with paying bus fare for children in China. My wife said if they're under 120cm tall they get on free? That true.

[roddy]

Does your wife have a history of lying to you about trivial matters like this?

[pprendeville]

What's trivial about it. I'd like to find out if we'll have to pay for our kids or not. My wife hasn't been living in the country for 6 years so is a bit out of touch with goings on and things change. Recession here has changed a lot of things.