Beijing subway, a few words about transportation in China

We like to visit large cities where there is a well-developed subway (or public transportation) system. This makes it much easier to move around and visit. Beijing, as it is referred to, is one such city. How to get around Beijing by subway? Is it safe to do so? All about it in this post.

Undisputedly, and probably anticipating your comments, we are aware that traveling a couple of hundred meters underground one will not see much. However, with distances like Beijing, there is no other option.

Of course, we can always forgo a subway trip to walk two, three, or even four subway stations (which we also did), but in the case of Beijing, we’re usually talking about eight, ten, or even a dozen stations :)

Table of contents

Traveling in Beijing (Beijing subway)

Beijing’s subway is the world’s second largest such transportation system in terms of line length (the largest is in Shanghai). Don’t be surprised if you get on in the center of Beijing and drive an hour and a half, and it still won’t be the end of your tour. Just as we had on our way to the Ming Dynasty Tombs. And yes, we’re saying this all the time about the subway (including subway), not the commuter rail (such as on the way to the Great Wall).

Currently, the entire system has 18-19 lines (depends on how you count), which are being expanded all the time. Plans for the next few years are ambitious, of course, but looking at how quickly the network of connections in Beijing and other Chinese cities is being expanded, we have no doubt that these plans are real :)

Despite the large number of lines, stations and distances, traveling by subway in Beijing is very easy. Very, very simple. The layout of the lines themselves is easy to read (not like in Tokyo). All stations are marked in Chinese and English. Signs directing to the subway, to specific platforms, or to transfer to another line are highly visible and well-organized. It’s hard to get lost, if you know where you want to go, of course ;)

In each carriage, at each exit, there is an up-to-date map of the line in question with interchanges, the current stop and the direction of traffic marked. Often this map also displays information on which side the door will open at the nearest station (mega convenience, especially if you have to squeeze through with a stroller).

Metro transfers are easy, clearly marked and…unavoidable. Despite Beijing’s well-developed subway lines, there’s no chance to avoid changing trains when going from one attraction to another :) Sometimes, of course, you have to walk a longer distance through underground corridors, but it’s not a tragedy.

Well, unless you are traveling with a stroller…. We have written about this before. Both Beijing and the subway system itself are not suitable for the disabled and those traveling with strollers. What do we need to drive up to the entrance of the subway station (on the surface), when further on there are no elevators only stairs and not always escalators?

And how about those crowds on the subway? Honestly, we’ve ridden the subway a lot, but we’ve never had much trouble getting on the train. It happened twice that we let one train pass, but it’s really not a problem. The subway runs very frequently, the crowd moves efficiently. Although it’s crowded, that’s a fact.

Maybe we were just always going in the opposite direction? Driving towards the Great Wall, we saw mega-long subway queues, standing even a dozen meters outside the station. Who were the travelers? It was people who drove from the suburbs to downtown for work. How long does one wait in such a queue? Fortunately, we didn’t have to check it out ;)

Current Beijing subway map

Looking for an up-to-date subway map of Beijing? Well… there isn’t one ;) And I write this quite seriously. During our stay in China, it even happened to us that the official map in the subway did not show all the stations present ;)

Nevertheless, you can find the latest information on the official website of Beijing Metro. You can find the map current at the time of writing the post here:

Subway prices in Beijing

One of the main pluses of the Beijing subway, which I haven’t written about yet, is that it’s just cheap. Rides literally cost 3-5 CNY (or about 2 zł). The fee depends on the number of kilometers traveled. Only the ride to the airport is more expensive (fixed fee), but the subway goes all the way to the airport.

It is interesting to note that children do not pay the subway fare until… 130 cm tall :) No one asks the age, only the height of the child is important (it is similar in many attractions in Beijing, by the way).

How to buy a ticket? How to pay for the subway?

The best and easiest way is to pay using the so-called Beijing Transportation Smart Card, which can be purchased at the airport and also returned there. You don’t need any proof or passport for this. The cards are nameless. And this is what the card looks like:

What does it consist of? You “rent” the card by paying a deposit of 20 CNY, which will be returned to you on departure when you return the card. This card can be recharged at the airport and practically at any metro station (at a window or at a machine, which is very easy because there are English subtitles).

It is advisable to have a minimum 20-30 CNY deposit on your card to travel without problems. When buying, at the very beginning, it is advisable to charge a larger amount, since the subway ride from the airport is more expensive.

On the plus side, when you leave (although not at every station) you can see exactly how much was charged for the rides and how much money is still left in your account.

The card is bounced at the entrance and exit of the subway. It works the same way on a bus. It is imperative that you “bounce” when getting off the bus, otherwise you will have an unfinished ride and they will not refund your deposit and card funds when you want to return it. Traveling by subway, however, you will not encounter this problem, as it is impossible to leave without “bouncing” the card.

Safety in the metro

Is the Beijing subway safe? What surprised us at the very beginning was the security checks at every, literally every subway station. At the airport, just after arrival, it did not surprise us, but later…. very much so. Even at the aforementioned station in the Ming Dynasty Tombs area, there was a security check.

What does such an inspection look like? Very similar to the airport one. You put your luggage on the belt to the scanner as at the airport, in addition, with a special tool they scan ew bottles of liquid. There is no metal detector, although there have been random checks (we saw them a few times).

For obvious reasons, unfortunately we don’t have pictures of what it looks like ;)

Are queues forming? Rather not. Only sometimes a little congestion. However, we encountered yet another type of control. In the corridor leading between one subway line and the other, policemen/security guards or other uniformed officers stood in a line. All “citizens” showed them some kind of document (not a ticket). We assume that it was an identity card. Why do we assume and not know 100%? Because when they saw us, they just let us pass without anything. Ot, white faces with a behemoth ;)

In general, there is security everywhere. You get the feeling that, except for the cameras, you are always in the field of vision of at least onezł(having already passed the inspection).

It is also safe for another reason. The vast majority of stations are equipped with additional glass doors on the platforms, making it impossible to fall onto the tracks under an oncoming train. Plus, additionally, we know 100% where the door will stop ;)

Overall, especially these days, Beijing’s subway seems very safe. However, there is a huge squeeze and crowd, so in addition to being trampled by the crowd and the lack of culture when getting off and on, it is also worth watching out for pickpockets. As always and everywhere :)

Communications in other cities?

How is public transportation in other cities? As you know, we were also in Xi’an, which at the moment has only 3 subway lines. Ultimately, they have planned 15 of them there. They will probably build them all next year ;)

Everything looks very similar to Beijing, except that we didn’t use a transportation card there, and only bought tickets for individual rides whether on the bus or subway (where English-language machines are also available). Xi’an, however, was small enough (for us) that we walked everywhere. In addition to a trip to the train station (on the way back to Beijing) and the Terracotta Army.