If you find yourself needing transportation around Bajiao Amusement Park on Subway Line 1, Tiantong Yuan North Station on Line 5, or Longze Station on Line 13, perhaps it’s best to take the bus or a cab. (This is the first and only time I’ll recommend taking a taxi over the subway, considering this city’s traffic). If you need a reason, check out the video above.
Those security lines are the result of manual checks, instituted at the above three stations (and six other unnamed ones). The Nanfang has some pictures via Weibo, and holy crap does it look like a nightmare. I ask this in all seriousness: what’s the point of security checks that create such bottleneck if the purpose is to prevent attacks on large crowds? If someone wanted to harm the maximum amount of people — you know, now that China has a terrorism problem — wouldn’t that person just target the queue here?
The news presenter in the video says authorities hope passengers will respond with “understanding, support, and cooperation.”
At least you have fair warning. We’ve seen worse Beijing subway crowds.
Here’s another look:
I admit it is creating a target but the alternative to an external checkpoint is to create a situation where an attacker could get a device into the confined space of the subway itself, where they can kill or maim far larger numbers with a far smaller and more easily concealed charge.
What are the other six stations?