On the bus platform at the north gate of the Forbidden City, two people are holding small flags to command, one is a volunteer wearing a yellow vest to maintain order, and the other is a tour group guide, directing the elderly tour group waiting for the bus. Since entering the tourist season, such "strange" phenomena have been very common around scenic spots such as the Forbidden City and Shichahai. In this regard, some members of the public have relayed that travel agencies do not arrange vehicles but allow tour groups to crowd out public transport resources, which is really inappropriate.
The Beijing Evening News (ID: wxbjwb) reporter found that there is indeed a reason behind the "targeting" of tourist groups, especially elderly tourist groups, and the relevant requirements in the "Beijing Core Area Tourist Bus Governance Work Plan" restrict the nearby parking of tourist buses. However, further investigation found that various factors such as "pull-and-train" tourism and unreasonable itinerary arrangements have aggravated the contradiction between tourism and travel.
The bus is full of elderly group tourists
As soon as the No. 111 bus entered the station, Beihai Beimen Bus Station immediately became lively. The platform is full of tour group tourists wearing Little Red Riding Hood, and in order to guide them on the bus smoothly, the bus driver, tour guide accompanying the group, and platform volunteers have all turned on the "loud and loud" mode. Tourists rushed up, the front door and back door of the vehicle were tightly blocked, and the driver shouted in the car: "Get in the front door, come to the front!" Credit card! ”
The volunteer shouted: "Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, you can go up, don't squeeze when you are so old, there must be your seat!" ”
The tour guide counted the number of people in front of the car door, while craned his neck and shouted at the driver: "Let them go up first, they won't swipe the card, I'll make up the ticket!" ”
Buses enter the stop and tourists rush up.
Finally, when the tourists got on the bus, they looked through the window of the car, red hats, red vests, and a large area of red in the car, almost occupying the carriage. Approaching the evening rush, there are not only tourists on the platform, but also many citizens coming to take the bus home. Looking at the chaos in front of them, some people had no choice but to wait for the next car.
"Tour groups do not take tourist buses, crowding public transportation resources, and commuting to work is really a headache." It is the peak tourist season, and many citizens have recently reported this problem, especially those who live within the second ring road or have their offices around scenic spots.
"From the Lama Temple to Jingshan, many buses on this line have this situation." Mr. Liu, a citizen, said that he lives around May Fourth Street and is affected by tourist groups every morning and evening rush hour. He found that the vast majority of the tour groups taking the bus, some even over 80 years old, in the face of such tour groups, "can not be touched, can only be polite." Sometimes it's too late, so I have to squeeze on the bus with the tour group, the bus is full, and you have to be more careful when you get on the front door and get off the bus at the back door. "I said that you let me go over for a while, the other party can't understand it, and I can't understand the dialect of the tourists, so are you in a hurry?"
Daily ride management is facing a dilemma
Mr. Liu mentioned May Fourth Street, before 2018, residents here had another kind of trouble. At that time, although the tour group did not take the bus, the problem of the tourist bus arbitrarily parking and getting on and off passengers around the road was prominent, which also affected the travel of residents. During the investigation, the reporter found that although the change of tour groups to buses alleviated the problem of random stops of tourist buses, due to the huge flow of passengers during the tourist season, there were many new problems arising from bus rides in tour groups.
Take Jingshan West Street as an example, with Beihai Park and Jingshan Park on both sides of the road, and at the same time close to the Forbidden City, the bus stop here is an obvious congestion point on this street. Whether it is a platform or a bus, the number of people that can be accommodated has long been overloaded. On the small bus stop, there are hundreds of tourists waiting for the bus, and the sidewalks and even the motorway are full of people.
On the afternoon of April 26, during the reporter's visit, I saw such a scene: as soon as the No. 5 bus entered the station, passengers and tour groups wanted to squeeze up, but so many people talked about how easy it was, only half of the tour group went up, and the tour guide and the bus driver discussed on the spot, whether to go first or have already got on the bus and then come down. As it came and went, the waiting time of the bus in the station was delayed, and the north-to-south motorway was blocked.
"Lost, I don't know which car to get into, I'm in a hurry." On the bus platform of Jingshan Qianjie, a volunteer who maintains waiting order told reporters that sometimes the number of tour groups is large, and some tour guides actually take some people to go first, and the rest have to wait for the next bus. However, tourists are not familiar with life, there are many old people, and they often forget which car to take to which station. A bus driver said that he ran this line every day and encountered elderly tour groups every day, and he could only drive the car slowly and slowly. "Who is this really going to fall on the old man? At a small level, it is a dispute, at a large level, it is a guest from afar, and it is not easy for grandpa and aunt to come here, if it is broken, what impression will the family have on our capital? ”
It is difficult for the elderly on the bus to have a seat.
"Pull-and-practice" tourism is overwhelming
The recent phenomenon of tour groups taking buses has attracted attention. Not only did some citizens complain to the 12345 hotline about the inconvenience, but the relevant videos also aroused widespread discussion on the short video platform. Many netizens commented, "It's too unpleasant for travel agencies not to arrange vehicles for tourists in order to save costs." "So, is the question behind this about saving costs? Why do elderly tour groups prefer buses? Where are they going by bus? The reporter launched a further investigation.
There is a parking guide sign on the east street of the art museum that says "Beijing B Tourist Bus", and there is a 10-minute parking limit reminder below. In the investigation, when the reporter followed a number of tour groups to take the bus, he found that whether it was a tour group that took the No. 111 bus from the North Gate of Beihai or a tour group that took the No. 101 bus from Shenwumen, the ultimate goal was to gather under the parking guidance sign on the East Street of the Art Museum.
This also led to the fact that the East Street of the Art Museum was as lively as a temple fair every afternoon. On the afternoon of April 26, the front of Sanlian Taofen Bookstore and across the road were full of tourists, and the small flags of each tour group were next to each other, and as the evening peak approached, new tour groups continued to gather from all directions. In the crowd, many elderly people gasped and anxiously asked when the tour guide would come. The 77-year-old tourist Zhang Lao Uncle looked tired, he described this day's tour as comparable to "pulling exercise", following the tour group to many places, Qianmen, Beihai Park, Forbidden City, etc., the old man's mobile phone shows that he walked nearly 40,000 steps on this day.
On East Street of the Art Museum, you can see a long queue of tourists waiting for tourist buses every afternoon.
"The old man really can't walk." A tour guide helplessly said that it is not that the travel agency does not arrange vehicles, but that tourist buses within the second ring road are not allowed to stop and get off passengers casually. If it is an ordinary tour group, they will take the team from Shichahai or the Forbidden City to the East Street of the Art Museum, and the May Fourth Street and the Huangchenggen Ruins Park on the way can be introduced as tourist attractions, but the old man has been tired for a day and can't walk so far, and taking a few stops on the bus can make them suffer less.
Call for reasonable arrangements for the itinerary of the elderly group
The no-stop rule mentioned by the tour guide comes from the "Beijing Core Area Tourist Bus Management Work Plan", which was implemented in December 2018 and has been repeatedly emphasized since then. Many tour guides believe that the inability of the elderly group to travel long distances to find a place to stop the tourist bus after a day of playing is one of the main factors in the problem.
When the reporter checked the relevant information with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, he learned that whether the tour group could take the bus was an agreement between the travel agency and the tourists, and it was not a violation. In the "Beijing Core Area Tourist Bus Governance Work Plan", there is also a proposal to encourage tourists to use the city's transportation resources. So, is the new contradiction due to the ill-considered regulations? After several days of investigation and visits, the reporter found that this was not the case.
The old people of the tour group lined up on the bus stop.
"Travel agencies can't just think about profit, but also visit the Forbidden City, Qianmen, Beihai Park in one day, and even add the Summer Palace and Lama Temple. Some tour guides told reporters that sometimes they were not satisfied with the arrangements of travel agencies. Tourists who are not familiar with the situation naturally want to see more in Beijing, but they do not know the scale of these attractions, and the tourist mode of nearly 40,000 steps a day cannot be borne by the elderly. By the end of the tour, people are so tired that it is almost impossible to get them to a place where they can stop the tourist bus. "We also hope that there will be some routes suitable for elderly tourism, the scale of the elderly group can be smaller, the elderly can be relaxed, and we can take care of it more carefully as tour guides." There are fewer people and shorter routes, so that even if you have to take a bus, you will not always catch the morning and evening rush, let alone crowd too many public transportation resources. ”
Column editor-in-chief: Zhang Wu Text editor: Cheng Pei Title picture source: Shangguan title picture Photo editor: Zhu Jun
Source: Author: Beijing Evening News