[josai]

Pollution in HK is nowhere near as bad as beijing, though. SZ's better but does have its moments.

It's not everyday, but when the 'Jing has a bad day, it's really something else. I don't know how people live there, it's terrible and you can just feel it damaging your lungs. It encourages this positive feedback loop too - the pollution is so bad you want to take a car everywhere, which of course contributes to the pollution!

I wouldn't be surprised if a fair portion of uber's success in CN is due to people not wanting to walk in the toxic smog. Would be interesting to see a graph of pollution index vs. ride numbers.

[edit: positive not negative]

[seanmcdirmid]

You manage. Right now it's spring so the air is quite good. Summer will be a bit hazy, fall will be very nice, then by late December it will be bad again. Pollution season is only 3 months/year, though the air is often not super great outside of that.

Also, uber isn't that successful in the jing, taxis are cheap enough (and ya, there is an uber-like app for them), and if you want to go upscale there is didi zhuanche (same app). You either take a car or a taxi, if you can afford $5-$10, or a bus/subway/bike if you can't, pollution doesn't really affect that.

[josai]

Hm, I've had people tell me that they prefer uber (or the other app you mentioned - i couldn't remember its name) because the cars tend to be better, and with better air filtering. Maybe that gave me the impression it's more popular than it actually is.

Certainly I'd spend a couple bucks more to sit for an hour (or more!) in an audi or VW over a hyundai..

[seanmcdirmid]

Uber is completely off the radar right now, I think they only service some parts of chaoyang even, I do most of my travel from haidian to chaoyang. Didi zhuanche offers better cars, but not Audi (maybe you are thinking of Shanghai?)...at best a VW or Buick.

Taxi is quite ok when the air is really bad. You can only filter so much air in a car, and it's not like they are putting in giant HEPA filters. The main problem I have is sleeping with the window closed when the air is bad...even with the air filter going, it is very hard to sleep soundly.

[josai]

Hey, thanks for sharing your local experience. I've only visited! I thought uber black runs audis in BJ but I only heard that from a friend. Maybe I or he was confused.

Out of interest, why do you have issues sleeping with the window closed? Frankly, it would be extremely rare for me to sleep with the windows open no matter where I am.

[seanmcdirmid]

Probably because as a Seattleite, it's what I'm used to (no ac or heat needed). Chinese people think I'm nuts, especially when we have to share rooms on trips. Couple that with preferred western sleeping temperatures being much lower than Asian ones...it leads to conflict.

[dghughes]

Summer began weeks ago by various definitions of it.

[seanmcdirmid]

It is still spring here, even if not officially. Today was nice and cool, the air is clean, in a couple of weeks it won't be this nice.

[arbuge]

You mean, positive feedback loop. Negative feedback tends to be self-correcting.

[josai]

Oops, right you are. Corrected.