Beijing Municipal Government Seeks Three-to-One Subway to Bus Ticket Price Ratio

Did the Beijing Municipal Government just tell us to expect RMB 6 Beijing Subway fares? Earlier this week, the Beijing Public Transport Group stated that the government was seeking a three-to-one price ratio of subway rides to bus rides.

That's good news because some Beijing public bus rides are as low as RMB 0.4. That would actually reduce subway fares to RMB 1.2! Yeah, we wish. What it also means is that bus fares are also likely to increase, although the focus on public transportation fees has been almost entirely on the Beijing Subway.

All of this talk of higher fares comes amidst reports this week that the Beijing Subway lost USD 558 million in 2013 alone. A fare increase was announced officially in March, and indicated loosely for the second half of 2014, but no timetable or new pricing has been revealed yet.

Beijing is one of the world's few major subway systems to use flat pricing. Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore all use distance-based pricing. The current RMB 2 fare hasn't risen since 2008, when fares were actually reduced from RMB 3 to RMB 2 after public outcry. The previous subway price was RMB 0.5, back when the entire system had no more than three lines.

Photo: Wikimedia