How to Get Around Shanghai and Beijing for ¥2 or Less

Making the most of public transit in China.

If you’ve never lived in a big city, public transit seems like a pain. Don’t subways smell? Doesn’t everyone who can afford it drive? Doesn’t it take forever?

While some of these unfortunate assumptions may be true of public transit in smaller towns and cities, they are most determinately inaccurate in China, where in some cities it’s actually much faster to travel underground than on the road, given the high congestion of traffic. (The city of Beijing was forced to institute a lottery system for car registration, traffic has gotten so bad).

In both Shanghai and Beijing, the city is doing all it can to make transportation fast, convenient and cheap. Not only are these networks are some of the biggest in the world, they’re also clean and, often enough, faster than travelling by car.

Public Transit in Shanghai

A Shanghai Public Transportation Card is a must in the city, eliminating the annoying task of carrying and counting the right change for each ride. It can be used for the bus, subway, ferry, light rail and even taxis (just be sure to mention to the driver that you’ll be using a card).

Cards can be purchased at subways stations and recharged a the automated kiosks or at many convenience stores and McDonald’s restaurants throughout the city. 

For 0.5 CNY

Ferries aren’t an obvious choice for public transportation, but in a city that is divided by a major river, they play a significant role in the city’s transit network and are still popular with pedestrians and cyclists. Eighteen ferry lines cross the Huangpu River.

Some rides are as low as .5 CNY, but air-conditioned ferries cost 2 CNY. If travelling with a bike the cost is 1.3 CNY, or 2.9 CNY with air-conditioning.

For 1-2 CNY

Shanghai has nearly a thousand bus lines, operated by several different companies. Not all are numbered though, and some only have names in Chinese, which make things a little tricky for foreigners.

Overland travel should always be avoided during peak traffic times, when travel time over just a few blocks could easily triple or quadruple.

For 2-9 CNY

Shanghai’s subway system is sleek and modern, built in 1995 and recently expanded for the 2010 World Expo. Its 12 subway lines total 468 kilometres, making it the longest in the world. Several new lines are currently under construction. By 2020, the city plans to be operating 20 lines totalling 887 km.

As in Beijing, there’s lots of incentive to use a transit card rather than pay cash. The subway system has several virtual interchange stations that aren’t physically linked. Passengers need to exit the station, enter the connecting station and pay another fare. With the card, passengers are only charged once. As construction progresses, some virtual interchanges are being replaced with actual physical interchanges.

Shanghai has a distance based fee system: 3 CNY for the first 5 km, plus 1 CNY for each additional 10 km, with the exception of line 5, where it costs just 2 CNY, or 3 CNY if the trip is over 6 km. Seniors ride for free with a social security card, except during rush hour.

Public Transit in Beijing

For Free

Little more than a decade ago, Beijing was called the “kingdom of bicycles.” Almost 40 percent of it’s population biked to work or school.

Last summer Beijing instituted a citywide bicycle rental program and there are currently about 27,000 bikes for rent across the city. By 2015, there will be almost double that. Bikes are free for the first hour, and 1 CNY for each additional hour, to a maximum of 10 CNY per day.

Currently the program is only available to local citizens, but plans to make bikes available to tourists and non-residents are in the works.

For 1 CNY

Beijing has 800 bus lines that run late into the night, with the exception of suburban lines, which stop running at 6 p.m.

Self-service buses are just 1 CNY cash or .4 CNY with a Beijing Smart Transportation Card. Embark in the middle gate - the front and back are for exiting. Buses that run outside of the central part of the city carry an additional cost, but cardholders still get a 60 percent discount.

Some busses have drivers you can flag down for 1 CNY, and cost an additional .5 CNY per 5 km after the first 12 km.

For 2 CNY

With 16 lines stretching out for 442 kilometres, Beijing has the second longest subway system in the world, after Shanghai. Stops are announced in both Chinese and English, making it super simple for foreigners. The cost is just about the cheapest you can get in China - 2 CNY per ride regardless of distance, a measure intended to keep people out of cars and off the road.

At street level, stations are marked with a blue sign and the letter D in it. The system is very clean and well-staffed, with English signage for tourists directing to popular destinations. Public bathrooms are available on the platform level.