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Beijing's boom brings a bonanza of buses

By Wang Zhuoqiong, Li Fangchao and Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-19 10:17

Today it is less than five minutes' walk for Li down to Xiluoyuan Road where several buses pull up to bus stops. This is where Li has taken the bus every morning ever since he retired in 1995, and he has more than one option.

"It's really convenient. In less than an hour I can reach the Temple of Heaven for my morning exercises," Li said.

It's also cheaper. In the old days, the bus fare started at 4 or 5 fen for the first three stops. Given the low wages, 5 fen was the price of a pancake. Today, everyone can enjoy a ride by bus to anywhere in Beijing at the lowest fare in China. On January 1, the fare on a bus pass was dropped to 40 fen for adults and 20 fen for students.

"Due to the fare adjustment, I can save about 50 yuan a month, which is about half of my original transportation fee," Li said.

The reduction in bus fare is an effective way to encourage people to take public transportation, which helps alleviate traffic congestion, Beijing Public Transport's Liu said.

"In 2005, about 28 percent of residents took the bus," Liu said, "while today more than 34 percent take the bus as their first choice."

Wu Jialu, a white-collar worker, is certainly one. "I will take the bus as my first choice because we enjoy the lowest bus fares in the world, in my opinion," he said.

Deputy Director Zhou Zhengyu of the Beijing Municipal Committee for Communications said Wednesday that the current low bus fares are not just for the duration of the Games but will remain in place for a considerable amount of time afterwards.

"We have successfully brought public transportation into (all) communities as of 2005," Zhou said.

According to Liu of Beijing Public Transport, 131 new bus routes have been added since 2006, 65 of which connects more than 500 communities, including Tiantongyuan, Huilongguan and Fengtai district, to downtown Beijing.

There are eight special Olympic bus routes, which operate between 6 am to 10 pm every day, and 26 express buses, which operate three hours before and one hour after each event at certain venues.

Each venue has at least one special bus that stops directly at the security doors of each venue.

For some important venues like the Bird's Nest, there are seven special routes and seven express buses. People who want to check where to take these special buses can check the following link: http://jtcx.beijing.cn/fuwu/aygjzx/

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