Being the capital city of Guizhou province and unique in its geographic location, Guiyang has convenient transportation.
External Transportation
Guiyang's geographic location is quite special. It's located in the middle of Guizhou province and adjoins Yunnan province (which neighbors the Golden Triangle) to the west, Sichuan province to the north, Guangxi to the south and Hunan to the east. Therefore, Guiyang’s outbound traffic is quite convenient.
• Railways: Four major trunk railway lines in Southwest China converge in Guiyang, namely the Hunan-Guizhou, Guizhou-Kunming, Guizhou-Guangxi and Sichuan-Guizhou railways. In addition, other railway lines, like the Zhuzhou-Liupanshui railway, pass through Guiyang Railway Station. Guiyang is also the biggest freight terminal in Southwest China. Railways are major transportation vehicles connecting Guiyang with other places. However, with the construction of new railway lines in the last decade, like the Chengdu-Kunming, Chongqing-Huaihua and Nanning-Kunming railway, Guiyang's position as a railway network hub in Southwest China is facing a great challenge.
• Highways: Both National Highway 321 and National Highway 210 pass through Guiyang. Four national highways have been completed in Guiyang, including the Hunan-Guizhou, Guiyang-Kunming, Guizhou-Guangxi and Sichuan-Guizhou highways. As for inter-provincial transportation, five highways run through Guiyang, including the Guiyang-Zunyi, Guiyang-Bijie, Guiyang-Huanguoshu (Anshun), Guiyang-Xinzhai (Duyun) and Qingzhen-Zhenning highway. Highways have enjoyed rapid development in recent years and have gradually replaced railways for inter-provincial transportation. Right now, the biggest passenger terminal in Southwest China is under construction in Guiyang. It will hopefully continually strengthen the advantage of Guiyang's transportation capacity.
• Air: Longdongbao International Airport, a 4D-level airport in Guiyang, is about 10 kilometers away from the city center. Dozens of international and domestic airlines have been opened to link Guiyang with cities including Hong Kong, Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, there are inter-provincial air flights to Tongren, Anshun and Xingyi.
Internal Transportation
There are highways linking up Guiyang with all the other districts, cities and counties in the province. However, no large-scale water traffic is available in the city.
Guiyang is a typical mountainous city. The roads within the city also reflect its mountainous style. They are narrow, bumpy and heavy loaded. Therefore, the public transportation in Guiyang is quite developed. After decades of development, public transportation nearly covers the entire urban area and main city regions of three suburbs. However, public transportation can't keep up with the pace of rapid development in the city in recent years. Some traffic blind spots exist and the traffic load continues to increase. Right now, Guiyang city is designing, planning and applying to establish the Guiyang No 1 high-speed rail line.
Transportation vehicles in Guiyang include coaches, medium-sized buses, minibuses and taxis. With the development of the city, medium-sized buses and minibuses have gradually been replaced by taxis. Taxis and coaches are two major transportation vehicles right now. Taxis are not expensive. It usually costs 10 yuan ($1.63) to go anywhere by taxi.
The life of Guiyang citizens depends highly on public transportation. It's quite convenient to take public buses. The distance between two stops is quite short. Public buses can take riders anywhere in Guiyang city.
Guiyang Public Transportation Corporation is one of a few for-profit corporations in the nationwide urban public transportation system.
Public buses in Guiyang are mainly self-service ticketing. Medium-sized buses and taxis are auxiliary transportation vehicles in Guiyang.
