Beijing Subway

The subway is the fastest and most convenient means of transportation in Beijing. The entrances to the subway are square, gray cement structure with a symbolic lamp on top of the structure. The ticket offices are mostly located underground at the entrance to the subway.

 

The Beijing Subway is a good way to quickly get around the city and is clearly marked in English for travelers. Long very limited, the network has expanded at a furious pace in recent years, with 9 lines now operational and another 9 to open by 2015. However, be warned that during rush hour trains can be extremely crowded. The subway system shuts down around midnight, and opens again around 5AM.

 

The most useful lines are Line 1, which runs east to west and passes under Tianenmen Square and goes to many tourist sights; Line 2, which is a loop line following the old city wall and serves the Central and North train stations; and line 5 which runs north-south and also serves numerous tourist sights. Transfers between all lines are free.
 

 

A flat fare of RMB (¥) 2.00 with unlimited transfers applies to all lines except the Airport Express, which costs ¥25. Children below 1.2 metres (47 in) in height ride for free when accompanied by a paying adult.

 

All lines now collect fares through automatic fare collection (AFC) machines that accept single-ride tickets and the One Card Through Card or Yikatong, an integrated circuit card (ICC card) that can store credit for multiple rides. Riders can purchase tickets and add credit to Yikatong at ticket counters and vending machines in every station. Yikatong is also accepted on many city buses, and can be used as e-money for other purchases.

 

The use of tickets hand checked by clerks was phased out, ending on June 9, 2008. Before the flat fare was introduced on October 7, 2007, fares ranged from ¥3 to ¥7, depending on the line and number of transfers.

 

Since the 2008 Olympics, security checks of riders and bags have become mandatory on the Beijing Subway

 

To ensure public safety during the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, the subway initiated a three-month heightened security program from June 29 to September 20, 2008. Riders were subject to searches of their persons and belongings at all stations by security inspectors using metal detectors, X-Ray machines and sniffer dogs. Items banned from public transportation such as "guns, ammunition, knives, explosives, flammable and radioactive materials, and toxic chemicals" were subject to confiscation. The security program was reinstituted during the 2009 New Year Holiday and has since been made permanent through regulations enacted in February 2009.

 

After witnessing several serious subway accidents in South Korea (e.g. Daegu subway fire in February 2003), the Beijing Subway removed all shops and vendors from the inside of subway stations and installed self-illuminating exit signs to facilitate emergency evacuations. The popular underground mall at the Xidan station was also closed.

 

The Beijing Subway was plagued by numerous accidents in its early years, but its operations have improved dramatically and there have been few reported accidents in recent years. Most of the reported fatalities on the subway are the result of suicides. Authorities have responded by installing doors on platforms of newer lines.

 

There have been several reported fatal incidents at subway construction sites in recent years. On October 8, 2003, the collapse of steel beams at the construction site of Line 5's Chongwenmen Station killed three workers and injured one. On March 29, 2007, the construction site at the Suzhoujie Station on Line 10 collapsed, burying six workers. On June 6, 2008, prior to the opening of Line 10, a worker was crushed to death inside an escalator in Zhichunlu Station when an intern turned on the moving staircase. On July 14, 2010, two workers were killed and eight were injured at the construction site of Line 15's Shunyi Station when the steel support structure collapsed on them.