Beijing City Bus

City bus in Beijing is the most widely used and affordable amongst all means of public transportation, although it can be very crowded and may meet a traffic jam.
 
Now the entire public bus network has over 1,600 routes with over 3,2000 buses. Public buses are identified either by numbers or Chinese characters. The automatic station reporter will announce the stations both in Chinese and English.

 

1. Downtown Regular Lines: Bus No.1-698

2. Outskirts Lines: regular outskirts lines Bus No.804-998; outer suburb lines starting with C, F, H, M, S, T, Y, X ……

3. Night Lines: Night Line No.1-38, High-Speed Train Special Line No.1-6

Beijing Bus Map - Night Routes (Click to Enlarge)

4. Sightseeing Bus: Urban Sightseeing Line 1-3, Dang-Dang Sightseeing Lines

5. Capital Airport Shuttle Bus & Daxing Airport Shuttle Bus

6. Tram Line: Xijiao Line, Yizhuang T1 Line

7. Express Lines: BRT 1 to 4; Express Through Lines No.1-222;

8. Other Lines: Special Lines & Commuter Lines, free shuttles buses
 

Regular downtown bus routes usually start running at 05:00 – 06:00 and stop at 22:00 – 23:30. Some suburb lines start operating from 4:30-6:00, and stop at 19:00-21:30. Beijing night buses nos. 1 to 38 often operate from 23:00 to 05:00 the next day. BRT Lines operate from 5:00 - 23:00. Commuter and business lines only operate on weekdays and some departure time is fixed. Express Through lines also run on weekdays with fixed schedule.

Embark a Self-service Bus

A Beijing Bus with Conductor

All routes are charged by distance. The minimum fee is CNY2 for the first 10 km (6 mi), and an extra CNY1 is added every additional 5 km (3 mi). The maximum charge can be CNY10 - 12. Passengers paying by Beijing Transportation Smart Card enjoy a 50% discount on downtown buses. Children below 1.3 m (4 ft) can take all public buses for free.

Passengers should insert the exact amount of bus fare to the coin box on the downtown lines. If paying with Transportation Smart Card on these buses, they need to swipe it when getting on. Do swipe the card again if there is a card reader at the door for disembarking so that the bus fare can be deducted. Most suburb lines require paying cash to the conductor to get a paper ticket.  
 

The bus stops are marked with route details in Chinese showing route number, name of the stop you are standing at, all stops of the route, operating hours and direction of the bus. The terminals of some routes are also marked in Pinyin at some bus stops.

Passengers must wait and take a bus at the dedicated stop instead of hailing along the street. For buses with two doors, the front door is for boarding and the back one is for drop-off. Passengers taking a bus with three doors should get on from the middle door and get off from the other two.
 

Three urban sightseeing buses lead tourists to visit the ancient imperial city, covering must-see attractions like Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, Ruins of Yuanmingyuan and Summer Palace. Four Dang-dang sightseeing buses of Beijing Hub of Tour Dispatch are available. 

 Join in Beijing Bus Tour to Forbidden City and Great Wall arranged by TravelChinaGuide.com!
 

12 special tourist line to famous scenic spots in Beijing like Hongluo Temple, Qinglong Gorge, Mutianyu Great Wall are available. In addition, 5 holiday lines operating only on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays lead people to Baiyangdian, Jinshanling Great Wall and so on. Some city buses run to attractions in and around Beijing.  
 

Beijing has totally 32 trolley buses at present.  Two tram lines, Modern Tram Xijiao Line and Yizhuang T1 Line, are in service. Shunyi Modern Tram T2 Line is under construction.

 Tram Xijiao Line
Route: Bagou, transfer with subway line 10 – West Gate of Summer Palace – Chapeng – Wan’an – Botanical Garden – Fragrant Hills
Service Hours: from Bagou 05:30 – 22:30; from Fragrant Hills 06:00 – 23:00
Frequency: 7 min
Duration: 32 min
Fare: CNY 3 – 6
Payment: cash, Beijing Transportation Smart Card

 Tram Yizhuang T1 Line
Route: Dinghaiyuan → Dinghaiyuanxi → Jinghai Yilu → Yichuang Huizhan Zhongxin (Beijing Etrong Int'l Exhibition & Convention Center) → Rongchang Dongjie → Yizhuang Tongren → Lujuandong → Taihelu → Jiuhaocun → Sihaizhuang → Taiheqiaobei → Ruihezhuang → Rongxingjie → Quzhuang → Laoguanli (not open yet)
Service Hours: 06:00 – 22:00
Frequency: 12 min
Duration: 55 min
Fare: CNY 3 – 4
Payment: cash, Beijing Transportation Smart Card