Beijing Visitor's Guide: How to Ride the Bus
Ever since China began expanding its visa-free travel and 72/144-hour visa-free transit policies to more countries last year, have you had any friends or family members who have come to Beijing to visit since then? Anyone you know planning to come? What sort of essential tips would you give them? The Beijinger is running a new series providing such essential tips for short-term visitors to the capital. We hope it’ll make things easier for overseas visitors, and help make your life easier inviting and receiving visitors from back home. Check it out and give us your feedback below!
Once you're settled in and plan to go out and about in the capital, your first thought might be to take the subway to get to where you need to be. It's fast and will get you close to almost all of Beijing's historic and scenic sites, but if you'd like to take your time and take in some scenery while you're at it, consider taking a city bus.
How to take the bus in Beijing?
Beijing boasts a well-established public bus network, with over 1,500 regular bus routes serving urban and suburban areas and covering nearly every neighborhood you could visit during your stay. The Beijing public bus system operates from 5:00 to 23:00, with 36 overnight routes catering to late-night travelers, ensuring convenient access to popular destinations at all hours. You'll beable to view information about specific bus lines at every bus stop, including the bus stop names in Chinese and Pinyin romanization, frequency and the fare. Following are 3 ways to take a bus ride in Beijing.
- Use the convenient and cashless Bus QR code via Alipay.
- Use Cash, but make sure you have the exact amount of small notes or coins.
- Get a Beijing Public Transit Card (Yikatong) at a manned counter in any of Beijing's subway stations.
1. How to Use Bus QR code inside Alipay
As we mentioned, Alipay is one of the most important apps in China besides WeChat, but in order for it to fully function, you need to set it up by linking it with one of your active bank cards (both Chinese and international bank cards work for this). Click this link for instructions if you havent set yours up yet.
You can find the steps for setting up a Bus QR code for Beijing on Alipay below. Can't read Chinese? You can switch your Alipay to one of 15 available in-app languages!
- 1) Open the Alipay App and press "Transport"
- 2) Choose "Bus" on the left top, then press "Get now"
- 3) Check to agree to the terms and conditions and press "Agree and Obtain the card". In case there's any confusion, this page has clear instructions and FAQs below.
- 4) If you haven't put in your password, it will pop like it does when getting your subway QR set up. Just put in your Alipay payment password (that you created when you first linked alipay with your bank card, click here to read more)
- 5) You've now got your Bus QR code ready to swipe and ride! Use as indicated in illustration on 3.
2. Use Cash to take bus
Yes, you can still use cash to take a bus, but keep in mind the bus drivers do not have change for you, so make sure you have small notes like RMB 1 or RMB 5, as most of bus fares are between RMB 1 to RMB 5.
3. How to Get a Beijing Public Transit Card at a Manned Subway Ticket Counter
You can also use Beijing Public Transit Card to take the bus. Most subway stations have manned ticketing counters where a Beijing Subway employee can help you buy tickets. You simply need to state your destination and pay using the methods mentioned above. Get your translation apps ready because the English ability of station staff may be limited.
The Beijing Public Transit Card is called the Yikatong, which means “one card pass”. It can be used to ride both the subway and public buses. You can buy one at subway station ticket counters by simply asking for "yikatong". You must pay RMB 20 as a deposit, and top it up with between RMB10 to RMB 1000 either at the ticket counter or at a special kiosk usually found next to the ticket kiosks (through the same payment methods mentioned above). Again, please bear in mind the station staff's limited English ability. If you want to read detailed explanination on how to obtain and use an yikatong card, click this link here.
READ: Beijing Visitor's Guide: How to Ride the Subway
Images: Wikipedia, The Beijingers
