The Best Transportation Option in China for Budget Travelers: Shun Feng Che

Forget about trains, buses and Didis. The best medium distance travel option in China is Shun Feng Che (顺风车). Drivers can come pick you up right at your door and take you all the way to your destination for very affordable prices. At the time I am writing this, I am 70 km from the nearest airport, and I can order a Shun Feng Che to the airport for as low as 70 RMB. That’s just over $10 for a 40-mile ride.

Hi I'm Noah, and I make travel vlogs exploring China's many amazing and beautiful attractions. Check out my channel here:

What is Shun Feng Che?

Shun Feng Che is an application program for Chines drivers looking to make money while they travel, by picking up and dropping off passengers on the way to their destination. It is a super convenient way for people to travel medium-length distances near a city or popular travel destination in China.

Some things to know before you use Shun Feng Che:

Please note that you will encounter Chinese when using this app. I will do my best to help you navigate through it, if you have difficulty with Chinese.

Also, note that, it’s best to schedule a Shun Feng Che a day or a few days before your trip. Trying to order a Shun Feng Che to leave in a few minutes or hours probably won't be successful.

Furthermore, while I’m not willing to promise anything 100%, as long as you choose a driver that has picked up passengers close to 100 times, there is little risk involved, at least for men. As with any car ordering app, women need to be extra cautious. I would highly discourage any female from using a Shun Feng Che to travel alone at night, but during the day, girls probably wouldn’t run into any problems. Think of it the same way you’d think of using Uber. But I’ve personally ridden with drivers who have only picked up passengers a handful of times before and haven’t run into any problems at all.

Another downside is using the shared-ride option in the app. The prices are cheaper, but the actual ride time is unpredictable, as I will explain later in this blog.

Another thing to keep in mind is to use Shun Feng Che, you need to use the Alipay app (pictured below), and you need to set up a payment option through Alipay. The easiest and most convenient way to do so is through a Chinese bank account.

How to order a Shun Feng Che?

Once you have Alipay downloaded and set up, open the app and click “Hellobike”

From there, you should see several different transportation icons. Choose the green one that says “顺风车”

Near the bottom of your screen, click the writing next to the green solid circle, and then type in the location you want the car to pick you up from (remember, you need to type in Chinese):

Below the green dot, click the writing next to the orange dot and type in your destination.

Then you will come to this page, and choose the time frame you want to be picked up at:

After that, choose the total number of people you want to be picked up:

Then you will have the option to choose between a shared car, or non-shared car. Unless there is a big difference in the prices, I highly recommend choosing the non-shared option. The shared option takes a lot longer, and the driver cannot confirm what time you will reach your destination because, often times, the driver has to go around town to pick up a bunch of people before you can set off to your destination. Think of the shared option as a "Super Shuttle" van.

After you choose your priced option and book a ride, you’ll go to this page:

At this point, the best course of action is to wait until a driver messages you. You can look at different potential drivers who are looking for passengers along your route. You can invite different drivers to pick you up if you like their profile. Inside each driver’s profile, you can see the number of times, they have picked up people before.

When you get a text message like this, with the first characters of the message being： 哈啰顺风车. That is letting you know that someone has agreed to pick you up.

Click on the link to pay. REMEMBER: if you are worried about any safety risk, look at the driver’s 接单次, or number of times the driver has picked up people, before you pay. The higher that number is, the less risk there is involved.

Once you pay, you’re all set.

The driver might try to contact you, or even call you. If your Chinese is bad, I recommend you can copy and paste this message to send to the driver in the app: 你好。我的汉语不太好。如果有问题的话，请在这个app上给我发信息。谢谢。

What you are telling your driver through this message is that your Chinese is bad, and you are asking the driver to message you on the app in case of any problems. Then you can use a translation app to translate the messages and reply.

If the driver calls you anyways, you can also say, “nǐ zài A-P-P shàng gěi wǒ fā xìn xī ma?” which means, “Can you please send me a message on the app?”

When the driver finally arrives to pick you up, make sure to open up the ride in the app (you can quickly access it by clicking the text message link that was sent to you before) and hit the big blue button which says, “我已上车“. This will notify the app that you’ve already gotten in the car. (The driver can also guide you through this step).

And lastly, when the driver drops you off, make sure to open up the ride and hit the new big blue button, which signifies you have already exited the car.

Looking for More China Travel Inspiration and Information?

Check out my Youtube Channel, Noah Kartha, where I explore China’s many beautiful hidden treasures, including thousands-of-year-old ancient towns, temples, stunning natural landscapes and more. Click here for the link:

Shun Feng Che is an absolutely steal. Having lived in Los Angeles before, where a taxi home from the airport would cost me more than $50, the prices of Shun Feng Che are unbelievably low. I highly recommend anyone traveling in China give it a try, and if you have any comments or questions, please post them below!