If I remember where I got on I can always get off my bus, cross the road and get on the same bus number and then get of where I originally got on. Using this method, I would get on a bus and ride it, sometimes to the end and as I rode I would note some key locations. I would ride back and get off at those key locations and stand there for 20 minutes and record all the bus numbers that stopped there. I did that at about ten important locations for me. Places where I would often travel to. As a result I developed a chart, shown in the picture below, of about 75 bus numbers and about ten bus stops. If I carried this chart with me I usually had a good chance of getting to a point that I knew. If I was really lost in the city and no buses were coming by that were on my list, I would simple select a bus and get on and go for a ride. I would get on sit or stand on the left side of the bus so I could see the buses going by in the opposite direction. If I saw a bus number that was on my chart I got off my bus and got on the bus number that went by and hope it is going in the right direction for me. Once I did this and after about 30 minutes I realized it was going in the wrong direction. I then got off and got on one going in the other direction. Eventually I got to a familiar place and could get home.
One day I learned about www.WuhanBus.com and found that I could enter in any bus number and get a chart of all the stops it made. That would be very useful if I read Chinese, but with practice I learned how to use two charts at a time and figure out if two buses traveled together or crossed at any point. That helped me some. A sample of such a chart is shown in the next picture.
Then one day I was using Google Maps, looking at streets in Wuhan. I noticed that when I zoomed in close enough the bus stops appeared along the streets and I noticed that when I moved my cursor over them it turned into a finger. When it did, and if I did a left click, a chart appeared showing all the buses that stop at that stop. For me that was a gold mine of information. Now I can easily expand my bus numbers chart without physically going to the stop and recording all the buses that stop there.
While at one of those bus stops I noticed one day a sign posted there that listed all the busses that stop there, just like I saw when I did a left click on the bus symbol on Google Maps. With this information I can easily go anyplace I want to in this great city. I can travel as far as any bus route is long for about 15 cents, but remember you may have to do it standing body to body with people you may not want to be standing that close to. I enjoy it and sometimes do it to see what I can experience and learn. It might provide information for a blog entry to lighten your day during lunch break at the office.
