shippeb

I am going to be attending a meeting near Tuanjiehu station in two weeks' time. Unfortunately we're having a little trouble getting a letter of invitation that will satisfy the visa office here in France, and it's looking like I may need to do a trip without a visa.

Worst case, if I have a flight departing BJS at 1445, am I better to take the subway and Airport Express, or to take a taxi? And in each case, approximately what time to I need to leave the Tuanjiehu area in order to be sure of making the flight?

Many thanks for any insights!

moondog

Even though Tuanjiehu to Sanyuanqiao only takes around 10 minutes on Line 10, I would still go with the taxi option because it doesn't cost a lot more, no transfer is required, and it ensures your personal comfort. Leave at noon, and you'll be fine.

shippeb

Many thanks, moondog! I continue to hope that the visa will work out and I won't need to run for the airport, but this is useful information "just in case".

JPDM

Tuanjiehu to the airport is 30 minutes. I used to live next to this subway stop and a taxi will take the same amount of time assuming it is not a weekend and not counting the time required to find a taxi which can be another 20 minutes.

shippeb

Thanks, JPDM! It'll be a Tuesday, and I will keep in mind if I have to do this that we need to pre-order a taxi (or get the big boss to loan me his driver...). Visa appears to be "in process", but I'll believe it when I see it.

moondog

I like the idea of using the company driver, but if that's not in the cards, I rarely pre-order taxis especially in the middle of the day from places like Tuanjiehu, which aren't nearly as competitive as the CBD or Sanlitun. An alternative to standing on the street is to either wait in your hotel's taxi queue, or better yet, give the concierge a head's up 10 minutes before you're ready to leave.

I've recently started using Uber in Beijing with pretty good success. I even got a car during rush hour on Guanghau Road (absolute worst scenario) last week in about 8 minutes... though the next morning in Sanlitun, the closet car was 20 minutes away. Uber's Beijing fleet much smaller than its counterparts in other similar sized cities, but this is moderated by the fact that Uber isn't well known yet. In terms of costs, I haven't tried them to the airport yet, but around town prices aren't a whole lot more than taxis (maybe 25%) though this could change at any time.