A Kuqa Motorcycle Taxi: Picture of the Week

Home » Picture of the Week, Travel May 7, 2010 10 Comments

A family rides a motorcycle taxi in Kuqa, Xinjiang

A Three-wheeled Motorcycle Taxi in Kuqa by Wee Ling

Although it is becoming less and less common in Xinjiang, three-wheeled motorcycles are a popular taxi service for Uyghurs.  In certain parts of Urumqi you can still take one but you’re more likely to find them in smaller, Uyghur-dominated cities like Kuqa (库车) on the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Wee Ling, who took this photograph, describes the scene:

It was taken one evening at the entrance of a neighborhood market in front of Kuqa’s long distance bus station…There was a sort of drop-off/pick-up point for three-wheeled motorcycle pickups and I was intrigued that this seems to be the favorite, and most likely cheapest, mode of public transport in Kuqa. There were no signages on the vehicles to indicate where they are heading to or if drop-offs are arbitrary. Most definite though, strangers and families are sharing the ride.

These taxis run a set path through the city and usually cost about 1 RMB per rider.  You can flag one down like you would a regular taxi and then let the driver know where you’ll be getting off.  It’s really a great way to see a city!  Just hop on one, see where it takes you and then find your way back.

10 Comments

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  • jessiev said:
    May 7th, 2010 at 10:45 am

    very cool photo!

    [Reply]

  • Fahd Aziz said:
    May 7th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    I remember it’s been almost one year since i sat on that Kuqa in Hotan. :-)
    Was kinda dangerous but i had no option as there wasn’t anythere else i could have used to get back to my Hotel from where I ate my lunch.
    But it was surely fun. :-P

    [Reply]

  • 马猴尔 said:
    May 7th, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    I used to take such tricycle taxis all the time between home and work in Ürümqi. I was lucky that one of them ‘routes’ took me a long way along the way.

    That said, they stopped operating as the winter of 2006-2007 approached, and never returned the following year. Purportedly they’d been banned from the Ürümqi streets.

    Tell me, where in Ürümqi can I still take one of these taxis?

    [Reply]

    Josh says: May 7th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    As far as I know they haven’t been banned. I took one in Urumqi last July, only a week after the riots. It started a little northeast of the International Bazaar and headed east through the Uyghur neighborhoods.

    [Reply]

  • kahraman said:
    May 8th, 2010 at 11:00 am

    I can’t think of any vehicle more versatile and hearty than the three wheeled motorcycle (三轮车).

    [Reply]

  • BeatUpPride said:
    May 14th, 2010 at 7:09 am

    Sorry for my irrelevant post…

    But I just heard that Internet connection is “ok” now in Xinjiang. I would very much like to confirm from trusted sources….

    Again, I apologies for my irrelevant post to thread.

    Cheers

    [Reply]

    Josh says: May 14th, 2010 at 7:45 am

    No worries. I’m looking into such rumors right now and will report to you once I find out.

    [Reply]

    BeatUpPride says: May 14th, 2010 at 8:19 am

    Thank you Josh!

    [Reply]

    Josh says: May 14th, 2010 at 9:37 am

    Check out my latest article:

    Xinjiang Internet Restored After 10 Months

  • Isabelle Gonzales said:
    May 20th, 2010 at 11:52 am

    it is really great to become a motorcycle lover, i collect different moyorcycles from different countries.,;~

    [Reply]

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