{"id":4503,"date":"2011-05-25T06:48:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T22:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/?p=4503"},"modified":"2022-04-10T20:29:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T12:29:17","slug":"rickshaws-in-beijing-vs-rickshaws-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/beijing-travel\/rickshaws-in-beijing-vs-rickshaws-in-london","title":{"rendered":"Rickshaws in Beijing VS Rickshaws in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nTaking a pedicab traveling around the old residential area in Beijing ( Beijing Hutong Tour<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0) is one of the highlights for the many first time foreign tourists visiting Beijing. The old Beijing residential areas are mostly composed of\u00a0Beijing Hutong<\/strong><\/a>s<\/span><\/strong> which form and contain\u00a0the traditional living houses locally called “Siheyuan”, a kind of vernacular\u00a0courtyards.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign travelers normally prefer to take a walk or a rickshaw around the Shichahai area north of\u00a0Beihai Park,\u00a0where the old hutongs and courtyards have well been kept.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutong tours are greatly promoted and incorporated into a complete Beijing sightseeing picture. There are several rickshaw tour tour companies providing pedicab service both in the Shichahai area north of Forbidden City and Qianmen area south of Forbidden City. Most of the rickshaw rides are restricted to the these\u00a0hutong and courtyard\u00a0areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through years’ hectic competition, the hutong rickshaw market has been controlled and operated by several huong tour companies which have a clear code of conduct for their pedicab drivers to follow. The code of conduct include the follow:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1) Their pedicabs are painted with their company’s name<\/span><\/div>\n
2) Their rickshaw drivers wear the\u00a0uniforms\u00a0with their company’s brand<\/span><\/div>\n
3) Their rickshaws are in good shape<\/span><\/div>\n
4) The rickshaw fares are fairly transparent<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tips for taking a rickshaw in Beijing<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1) It is better to book a rickshaw tour through a hutong tour company or a local travel agency<\/span><\/div>\n
2) Avoid directly negotiating the prices with individual pedicab drivers<\/span><\/div>\n
3) Keep from using independent rickshaw drivers. There do exist a few illegal pedicab drivers without any company background.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rickshaw has filled up a hole in the transport market in the hutong areas where normal cabs are found clumsy and useless. The hundreds-year old rickshaw ride\u00a0in Beijing has become a popular and nostalgic mode of moving around in the\u00a0fast developing metropolitan Beijing. Rickshaw rides are greatly favored by foreign visitors in Beijing and has also won the full support from the local government.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beijing Rickshaw 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beijing rickshaw 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beijing Rickshaw 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
The rickshaws in London don’t have the same luck and privilege as the rickshaws in Beijing have enjoy. The rickshaws in London first appeared around later 1990s with the intention of creating environmentally friendly work for unemployed youngsters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The pedicab drivers are mostly young foreign students who are going to make\u00a0some money to help fund their studies.\u00a0Many of them\u00a0are independent rickshaw drivers though there\u00a0are\u00a0some registered rickshaw operators in\u00a0London.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the very beginning, the pedicabs in London\u00a0have faced the question of existence due to the strong opposition from the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association which has vowed to fight them off the streets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pedicab fare is a matter of negotiation between the driver and the passengers. How much you pay is largely dependent on your negotiating skills and how far you are going. It’s\u00a0daunting physical work.<\/p>\n

Pedicabs in London are generally used by visitors for short journeys. Most of the rickshaw drivers look for their business in the West End Londdon, the most commercial and sightseeing area, posing a safety problem.<\/p>\n

A few day stay in\u00a0London gives me an impression that the richshaws in London are not well organized with little management and support from the local government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
London Rickshaw 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>
london rickshaw 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
London Rickshaw 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tip: Hassle-free Beijing Guided Tours<\/h2>\n

If you don\u2019t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,\u00a0 here are some options for Beijing guided tours:<\/p>\n

Beijing Day Tour<\/a>
\nBeijing Tour Packages<\/a>
\nGreat Wall Tour<\/a>
\nBeijing City Tour<\/a>
\nBeijing Winter Tour<\/a>
\nBeijing Autumn Tour<\/a>
\nCar Rental in Beijing<\/a>
\nBeijing Tours<\/a>
\nChina City Tours<\/a>
\nChina Tour<\/a><\/p>\n

Further Readings<\/h2>\n
\n

Best Time to Visit Beijing<\/a>
\nHow to plan a trip to Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 Attractions in Beijing<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Forbidden City<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Temple of Heaven<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Summer Palace<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Ming Tombs<\/a>
\nHow to Visit the Great Wall of China<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Tiananmen Square<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Hutongs<\/a>
\nHow to Visit Olympic Sites<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 Markets in Beijing<\/a>
\nTop 10 Shopping Malls in Beijing<\/a>
\nBeijing Shopping<\/a><\/p>\n

Wangfujing Walking Street<\/a>
\nQianmen Commercial Street<\/a>
\nGui Jie ( Ghost Street) Food Street<\/a><\/p>\n

Any questions, just drop a line.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a pedicab traveling around the old residential area in Beijing ( Beijing Hutong Tour\u00a0) is one of the highlights for the many first time foreign tourists visiting Beijing. The old Beijing residential areas are mostly composed of\u00a0Beijing Hutongs which form and contain\u00a0the traditional living houses locally called “Siheyuan”, a kind of vernacular\u00a0courtyards. Foreign travelers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,31,19,1135],"tags":[1145,1146,1147,1144],"class_list":["post-4503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beijing-tour-reviews","category-beijing-transportation","category-beijing-travel","category-london-beijing-travel","tag-beijing-pedicab","tag-london-pedicab","tag-london-rickshaw","tag-pedicabs-beijing-and-london"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4503"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31464,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4503\/revisions\/31464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}