Beijing Bus Transport -The Beijing of today is a giant modern city of over 16 million inhabitants full of Busses. The City, a huge sprawling landscape in which modern highrises were unusual before, covers an area of 16.800 square kilometers. With City limits extending some 130 kilometers ( 80 miles ) obviously, excellent City Transportation was and is needed.
Throughout history it has been the Beijing Busses that are and were the preferred transport of native Beijingers. Still many use the Bus, a cheap mode of transportation, but nowadays the newly and now once again extending Metro ( subway) is a good and fast alternative.
As the City is modernizing , so are Beijing Busses. More modern Busses are arriving , and eco-friendly trolley Busses can be found cruising Wanfujing Street.
Tourist Bus to 13 Ming Dynasty Tombs and Badaling Great Wall of China - Take a Peek at the Qianmen Tour Bus Station (across from the Old Qianmen Train Station) for an easy and cheap unguided getaway to the Great Wall of China at its nearest spot outside Beijing and the unforgettable historic 13 Ming Dynasty Era Tombs, which are all on the UNESCO United Nations World Heritage List.
Tourist Bus Excursion
A modern Beijing City Bus in the most standard colors loading passengers at ChangÁn Jie ( Oriental Plaza ) , Downtown Beijing's Main Artery.
An older style of Beijing City Bus ( Levathian ), now virtually fased out of use passing underneath pedestrian walkway west of Oriental Plaza.
Beijing Bus Basics -In short the Basics of Beijing Busses are short - It's is cheap, and it is usually not what you want ! Why ? Well, as mentioned it is true that Busses are the preferred transport of native Beijingers. However, just how long this remains the case is a good question. The busses usually are rather slow, and suffer increasingly from traffic jams. As such, a trip from TiananMen Square to the Summer Palace (Haidian) can now take as much as 1.5 hours.
Bus-fares in Beijing go as low as 0.30 Yuan for short inner city distances. This is bottom price. For longer distances count on about 1 Yuan.
2) A Beijing Bus gets you to almost any direction. If you can find the proper line ( and perhaps a good city map ) expect to be able to hit almost any City Destination.
3) Beijing Busses are a jewel of City Life.
Beijing busses are really crowded and get you "in touch" with Chinese ??
The Contra's of Busses : 1) It is really cheap. The cheapest ! So, Beijing busses are always crowded and populated with the most lowly paid. 2) It is really slow , usually. Traffic jams have worsened the problem. 3) Payment depends on distance or stops, so you will have to work out your stops about before boarding the Bus ! (no bus-map , too bad)
4) You may get pickpocketed easily in the crowd (??).
Since the number of cars within Beijing exploded into 400.000 this year and is expected to keep on climbing (sadly yes), Beijing Busses are more usually then not trapped in traffic. If you are in for a speedy or timely arrival, this is a huge problem.
For any longer distance, you really don' have a chance. Our advise : Don't do it !!
Only for specific destinations such as the outlying Marco Polo bridge ( still outside the Metro network ) or the TianNing Temple use Bus transport. Even then, consider a Taxi for speed and convenience.
Bus Operating Hours - Beijing City Busses operate from 5 AM to 11 AM Daily, throughout the city.
A Modern low-pollution Beijing City Bus at Dongjiaomin Catholic Church. Due to the extraordinarily increase in traffic, the city has been forced to convert to more environmentally friendly cars & busses fast. For 2010, an entirely "new" Beijing is planned with industry far outside the City center.
Bus Line Basics -In short there are 3 types of Beijing City Bus. Single and Double-digit numbered Busses are those circulating downtown Beijing (City Center).
300 number-series Busses are those moving about the outlying suburban areas. Make this as a first distinction !!
The third important type of Bus are the 200 number-series, which are night-time Busses with different operating hours.
Just to be complete - a 4th Type of Beijing Bus are the Trolley Busses, all number in the 100 series. A special kind of Bus are the double-deckers that circulate the city centre, these have special numbers and are described later in this report.
Older Beijing Bus at Tiantan Dong-Lu across from Hong Qiao Market.
Special Beijing Bus-knowledge and Tips - Your most important pitfall with Beijing Busses is undoubtedly the fact that Bus Fares are payed by the stop.
This means that you need to know the number of stops you intend to make before boarding !!! That is, unless you are fluent in mandarin you will be unable to
A special place should be reserved for Circular-Line City Busses. The special type of air-conditioned Beijing Busses can be convenient and usually have a seat for all passengers. Unfortunatly, so far, we have not been able to scout out the use of these long distance lines. More information follows when available.
More photos and information follow when available. Check the Site-Announcements !
Inside a Beijing Bus , the lady with the Bright Colored outfit is the Ticket Person.
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An example of the current and latest model bus now in use in the City.
A Beijing City Bus stuck in traffic at one of the lush green lanes of the Northern Chongwen District near ChongwenMen.
Latest Beijing Bus News and Information - In an effort to solve the Cities' growing traffic congestion problems, many changes have been and are made to Beijing's Public Transportation System. Among the new policies included to improve Bus Transport in Beijing will be the establishment of exclusive bus lanes on highways and major streets, and priority for busses at intersections. Also, even larger busses with a greater capacity of 250 to 300 passengers will be put into service in the coming years. A multitude of new connecting roads between 2nd, 3rd,
