I agree that Kunming is not the same as 5 years ago, but I live in DianChi, near the lake. If you have a family, you need a car: unless your family has a local support network. We don't use the car more than once or twice a week, but when we need it, we really need it.
The bus is a problem for a family with small kids, as we need to get the minibus to the main bus route. This is a 20 seater and usually has 30 passengers on it.
Taxis are often not in our area or, in tourist season (seagulls have arrived now), you need to fight for a taxi after walking half a kilometer to a tourist drop point.
Bikes? 12km to city centre, and would you want kids to learn to play with Kunming drivers?
Is one more car going to have any noticeable impact?
With regards to N. Kunming around the expo park. Kunming is in a bowl, and the air in the north of the city can get pretty bad at times, compared to the south of the cite where clean air from the lake blows in on the prevailing southerly wind.
I'm very much in favour of reducing the need for car use in my personal life and appreciate meeting people who share similar values but, with small kids to look after, it does mean having to plan things much more carefully, which is why it is GREAT to be able to read your comments. Thanks again.
Does anyone know the name and number of a reliable property agent who deals with Beichen? I've met property agents who have been extremely helpful and quickly work out what you want and show you that but I have also met plenty of agents who seem unable to grasp what you want and really waste your time.
The air is bad in Beijing today. The coal burning really does it!!!!!!!
Yea, the Beijing air gets the classification as "hazardous" today, by the US Embassy meters. Not "crazy bad" yet.
Why not try to get over it by a few cans of white paint, sold as yoghurt, and a few glasses of arsenic water?
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If there was some metric system on the degradation of moral too, it would be interesting to see the results. Particularly in yearly statistics.
@alien
Um...yeah...sorry...my bad. I meant E-Cars (bid, benz, etc). Go buy either an e-car (EV) or a Hybrid e-car (HEV aka Hybrid Electric Vehicle). I think those are the current acronyms in popular commercial use.
FYI - gokm had an article some time ago - the KM environmental mumble mumble mumble government department alleges vehicles contribute over 25% to Kunming's air pollution. So, aside from where I live - everyone should go exchange your >0 carbon emitter for a =0 e-car...pending minor logistics issues, such as recharging stations.
@robinhood
If you don't receive a response from the current gokm community, please try to send a PM (Private Message) note to @JJ & Janice (search the forums). He MIGHT be able to give you a sound referral.
e-cars don't solve the traffic problem.
Well, with kids you definitely need a car, maybe you can start with a 2nd hand car.
"With kids you need a car" - look around you at your neighbors who have kids but no cars & ask them how they do it, and how almost everybody did it until about 5-6 years ago.
"The air in the north of the city can get pretty bad at times" - and why is that? I don't remember ANY bad air in the area until 5-6 years ago.
"Is one more car" etc. - every single car in Kunming is just "one more car" - and cars either pollute or they don't.
You suggested, "look around you at your neighbors who have kids but no cars & ask them how they do it, and how almost everybody did it until about 5-6 years ago."
All my neighbors have cars, nobody lived where I live 6 years ago. I am just telling it like it IS, not how it should be. So bite me.
I saw a foreign guy attach some kind of cart to his bike and he was wheeling his kids around in it. Maybe not ideal for long distances. And maybe not that safe in traffic. But he found a creative solution to avoid driving, even with kids.
