More and more tourists start to use a combination of subway+bus+taxi for touring Beijing.  Bus service goes to every attraction, and it is one of the main transportation means for the local people.   There are around 18,000 buses in Beijing.

This is for the real adventurous people out there. It can be difficult to get information about routes. There are many different kinds of buses with prices starting at 1 RMB, but it is always crowded and without air-condition. 2 RMB might buy you some air conditioning and a few less people. The language is a major problem as there are virtually no buses with any English information. So we’d like to give some tips on getting on and paying for the bus hopefully it can be useful to you.

There are two ways to pay for a bus. One is to pay immediately, as you get on the bus. When you get on the bus from the front door near the driver, you will see a box with a slot near the driver. You put your money (usually 1 RMB) into the box. The driver oversees the process. Remember, preparing the change with you as no change will be given. This kind of bus has two doors. The front door is for getting on and back door is for getting off. There are symbols for "get off the bus - exit" and "get on the bus - enter".

Another kind of bus has a dedicated employee whose job is to collect the money from the passengers. On this kind of bus, you can get on first, then pay later, at any time during your journey. You can get on or off casually from any door, the front, middle or back door.

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