With the construction of various roads, buses also started to operate.
After entering the Republic of China, the old city of Chongqing began to become more and more crowded. In 1927, Chongqing began to plan to expand the new urban area to the west and build a main road in the central area. By 1935, roads such as the Central District Main Road from Zengjiayan to Qixinggang and the Southern District Main Road from Caiyuanba to Maizi City had been built. These roads connect the old city with the new urban area.
▲ In 1933, when looking at the Old City of Chongqing from the Futuguan area, you can see the repaired trunk road in the central district.
According to the regulations of the city government at that time, it ran through the entire district. The trunk road connecting the old city road was 20 meters wide and had a maximum slope of 4%. The branch road leading to the main road is 10 meters wide and has a maximum slope of 5%. The street leading to the branch road is 8 meters wide and has a maximum slope of 5%.
▲ List of completed roads in the urban area (1937)
▲ Map of urban roads in Chongqing in 1940. The thick black lines represent the completed roads
After the roads were built, buses started running. At first, there were only two lines in the city, one from Zengjiayan to Guojielou. There were stops on the line such as Shangqing Temple , American College, Lianglukou, Guanyinyan, Qixinggang, Jiaochangkou, Duyou Street, and Xiaoshizi.
The first train of this line leaves from Zengjiayan at 6:30 in the morning, and the last train leaves at 11:00 in the evening. The fare on the entire line is three cents of French currency (1940).
Another route is from Guojielou to Caiyuanba. It passes through Shangcheng, Chuqimen , Nanjimen, Shibanpo, Yanxi Cave (Aircraft Terminal) and other stations, and then to Caiyuanba.
▲The first two urban bus lines opened
also operate some public lines between the urban area and the suburbs. Baxian Automobile Company operates the Chongqing Chongqing Line. It departs from Qixinggang at 7 a.m. every day and returns to Ciqikou. It ends at 4 p.m., one way takes about 1 hour, and there are 6 round trips per day. The fare is 1 yuan (1939).
In addition, there are bus lines from the urban area to Beibei , from the urban area to Qingmuguan, and from the urban area to Chenjiaqiao .
▲ In 1936, the suburban road from Liziba to Ciqikou
▲During the Republic of China, the Liangfu Road
from Lianglukou to Futuguan was between some scenic spots in the city and suburbs. To facilitate sightseeing, special tourist lines were opened. For example, Haitang Creek goes to South Hot Spring , and Lianglu intersection goes to North Hot Spring .
▲ During the Anti-Japanese War , a Chongqing bus looked a little shabby. The words "Hai Wen" on the roof of the car indicate that the bus route is from Haitang Creek to Nanquan Hot Spring. In 1939, the one-way fare on this line was 8 cents, but due to gasoline restrictions at that time, it was actually a price without a car.
At that time, the Eagle Rock and cave area (now on the mountain behind Xinqiao Hospital) were scenic places in the suburbs of Chongqing. In order to facilitate tourists to browse, in December 1936, a special tour bus was opened from the two intersections to the cave.
▲The recently built Chengdu-Chongqing Highway Yingyan Panshan Road and the overpass bridge
▲The overpass bridge on Eagle Rock
This line departs from the two intersections at 9 o'clock every day, one-way for one hour, and goes back and forth 4 times a day. The one-way fare is 7 cents and 2 cents (1939), passing through Hualong Bridge, , Xiaolongkan, Xinqiao and other places. Later, this line was extended along the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway to Gele Mountain.
Difficulty in taking a bus is a major difficulty in traveling
In 1937, there were only 73 buses in Chongqing. Because there were too many people taking the buses, traveling by bus was always a problem. In order to alleviate the travel pressure, buses 6 and 7 were later added to the main routes. By 1940, there were more than 100 buses in the urban area, and there was basically a bus every ten minutes.
Even so, on main lines, except for the starting station where it is easy to get a seat, it is still difficult to get a seat at other intermediate stations.
The line from Zengjiayan to Guojielou can be said to be the most crowded and difficult to seat in the city at that time. In November 1938, another train from Xiaoshizi to Shangqing Temple was opened on this line. However, because there are too many people taking the bus, the problem of difficulty in taking the bus has not yet been solved.
▲During the Anti-Japanese War, the crowds on the Chongqing bus
At that time, the bus had a capacity of 35 people, although it could still accommodate 4 or 50 people.However, due to the small number of cars and the large number of people, it is often difficult to take the bus. At the starting station alone, there are usually long queues of people taking the bus. If you want to get on the bus halfway, then you have to wait slowly. If you are not lucky, you don't know how long it will take to get on the bus.
A passenger's personal experience reflects the changes in Chongqing's public transportation over the past few years.
When he first came to Chongqing, the bus was not available to him.
In the summer of 1940, a passenger named Pan Taifeng took a ship and landed at Taipingmen Pier. After that, he waited for the bus several times at Lianglukou Station. Since there were a lot of people waiting for the bus every time, it was packed with people when the bus arrived, and no one got off the bus. It was impossible to squeeze in. He never got on the bus.
He had to express his feelings: "The bus has never been fate for me." When he traveled later, he would rather spend more money to take a rickshaw instead of taking a bus that seemed fast and cheap.
▲At the two intersections during the Anti-Japanese War, the building on the mountain was the Soviet Embassy at the time.
Came to Chongqing again, and the impression was "new"
In 1943, Pan Taifeng once again went to Chongqing for a few days, and this time he finally got on the bus. He saw that these buses had been renovated and looked brand new. Wooden railings had been installed at the stations, and the overall order looked very good.
There are two conductors in each car. When the station is approaching, they will announce the station name one after another: "XXX is arriving soon". When the bus arrived at the station, they received two more calls: "Exit XXX". When the car door opens, they will also make short sounds of "quick" and "get off" to urge people to get out of the car.
At this time, buses were divided into express buses and ordinary buses. The former only stopped at a few major stations and cost ten yuan for a ticket, while the latter stopped at all stations and cost eight yuan for a ticket.
The buses in Chongqing seemed to have left a good impression on Pan Taifeng. He described the public transportation in Chongqing at that time as "renewed".
▲In 1941, Zhongshan Road
came to Chongqing for the third time. The car was already "dusty and old"
In February 1944, Pan Taifeng came to Chongqing again and stayed for ten months. This time he saw that "the bus was still maintained, and the beautiful coat had long faded, turning into a dusty face and an old look."
The wooden railings at the station were gone, but people were still waiting for the bus in an orderly manner. When someone jumps in line, the people behind them will shout "obey the order" and "obey the order" to prevent these unruly people from succeeding.
Tickets have increased to 25 yuan for express trains and 15 yuan for ordinary trains. Perhaps it was because of the high fares, but the bus was not so crowded at this time, and I was able to get a seat.
But the good times did not last long. A few months later, prices soared, money became less and less valuable, and the ticket price also rose to 40 yuan. At this time, people no longer care about the ticket, which is only a few dozen yuan. The ticket price of
html is 240 yuan, which is more than 100 times the original ticket price. But even so, the operator still said that it is losing money and needs monthly subsidies from the government. At thestation, you can see the long snake formation that used to be lined up in the past. "The three important stations, Guojielou, Duyou Street, and Shangqing Temple, stretch for half a mile from the head of the snake to the tail of the snake when the company office is off work." It is a normal sight to wait at the station for an hour and a half before getting on the bus.
▲During the Anti-Japanese War, people waiting for buses on Duyou Street
