Beijing Subway
The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 30 lines including 25 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and two light rail tram lines, and 524 stations. The rail network extends across 12 urban and suburban districts of Beijing and into one district of Langfang in neighboring Hebei province. In December 2023, Beijing Subway became the world's longest metro system by route length, surpassing the Shanghai Metro. With 3.8484 billion trips delivered in 2018 and single-day ridership record of 13.7538 million set on July 12, 2019, the Beijing Subway was the world's busiest metro system in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Beijing Subway opened in 1971 and is the oldest metro system in China and on the mainland of East Asia. Before the system began its rapid expansion in 2002, the subway had only two lines. The existing network still cannot adequately meet the city's mass transit needs. Beijing Subway's extensive expansion plans call for of lines serving a projected 18.5 million trips every day when Phase 2 Construction Plan finished. The most recent expansion came into effect on December 27, 2025, with the opening of Line 18 and extensions of Line 6 and Line 17.
Fares
Fare schedules
Single-ride fareThe Beijing Subway charges single-ride fare according to trip distance for all lines except the two airport express lines.
- For all lines except the two airport express lines, fares start at ¥3 for a trip up to 6 km in distance, with ¥1 added for the next 6 km, for every 10 km thereafter until the trip distance reaches 32 km, and for every 20 km beyond the first 32 km. A 40 km trip would cost ¥7.
- The Capital Airport Express has a fixed fare of ¥25 per ride.
- The Daxing Airport Express is the only line to maintain class-based fares with ordinary class fare varying with distance from ¥10 to ¥35 and business class fare fixed at ¥50 per ride.
Fare free riders
Children below in height ride for free when accompanied by a paying adult. Senior citizens over the age of 65, individuals with physical disabilities, retired revolutionary cadres, police and army veterans who had been wounded in action, military personnel and People's Armed Police can ride the subway for free.
Unlimited-rides fare
Since January 20, 2019, riders can purchase unlimited rides fare tickets using the Yitongxing app on smartphones, which generates a QR code with effective periods of one to seven days.
| Fare | Trip distance |
| ¥3 | <6 km |
| ¥4 | 6–12 km |
| ¥5 | 12–22 km |
| ¥6 | 22–32 km |
| ¥7 | 32–52 km |
| ¥8 | 52–72 km |
| ¥9 | 72–92 km |
| ¥10 | 92–112 km |
| Period | Price |
| 1 day | ¥20 |
| 2 days | ¥30 |
| 3 days | ¥40 |
| 5 days | ¥70 |
| 7 days | ¥90 |
Previous fare schedules
On December 28, 2014, the Beijing Subway switched from a fixed-fare schedule to the current distance-based fare schedule for all lines except the Capital Airport Express. Prior to the December 28, 2014, fare increase, passengers paid a flat rate of RMB 2.00 for all lines except the Capital Airport Express, which cost ¥25, The flat fare was the lowest among metro systems in China. Before the flat fare schedule was introduced on October 7, 2007, fares ranged from ¥3 to ¥7, depending on the line and number of transfers.
Fare collection
Each station has two to fifteen ticket vending machines. Ticket vending machines on all lines can add credit to Yikatong cards. Single-ride tickets take the form of an RFID-enabled flexible plastic card.Passengers must insert the ticket or scan the card at the gate both before entering and exiting the station. The subway's fare collection gates accept single-ride tickets and the Yikatong fare card. Passengers can purchase tickets and add credit to Yikatong card at ticket counters or vending machines in every station. The Yikatong, also known as Beijing Municipal Administration & Communication Card, is an integrated circuit card that stores credit for the subway, urban and suburban buses and e-money for other purchases. The Yikatong card itself must be purchased at the ticket counter. To enter a station, the Yikatong card must have a minimum balance of ¥3.00. Upon exiting the system, single-ride tickets are inserted into the turnstile, which are reused by the system.
To prevent fraud, passengers are required to complete their journeys within four hours upon entering the subway. If the four-hour limit is exceeded, a surcharge of ¥3 is imposed. Each Yikatong card is allowed to be overdrawn once. The overdrawn amount is deducted when credits are added to the card.
Yikatong card users who spend more than ¥100 on subway fare in a calendar month will receive credits to their card the following month. After reaching ¥100 of spending in one calendar month, 20% of any further spending up to ¥150 will be credited. When spending exceeds ¥150, 50% of any further spending up to ¥250 will be credited. Once expenditures exceed ¥400, further spending won't earn any more credits. The credits are designed to ease commuters' burdens of fare increases.
Beginning in June 2017, single-journey tickets could be purchased via a phone app. A May 2018 upgrade allowed entrance via scanning a QR code from the same app.
As of January 2025, passengers may directly tap the contactless payment card to ride the subway. For JCB cardholders, only cards issued outside Mainland China are available for tap to ride.
Lines in operation
Beijing Subway lines generally follow the checkerboard layout of the city. Most lines through the urban core run parallel or perpendicular to each other and intersect at right angles.Lines through the urban core
The urban core of Beijing is roughly outlined by the Line 10 loop, which runs underneath or just beyond the 3rd Ring Road. Each of the following lines provides extensive service within the Line 10 loop. All have connections to seven or more lines. Lines 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 19 also run through the Line 2 loop, marking the old Ming-Qing era city of Beijing.- Line 1: straight east–west line underneath Chang'an Avenue, bisecting the city through Tiananmen Square. Line 1 connects major commercial centres, Xidan, Wangfujing, Dongdan and the Beijing CBD.
- Line 2: the inner rectangular loop line that traces the Ming-era inner city wall which once surrounded the inner city, with stops at 11 of the wall's former gates, now busy intersections on the 2nd Ring Road, as well as the Beijing railway station.
- Line 3 runs from the eastern edge of the inner city to the northeast, through Sanlitun, Chaoyang Park and Chaoyang railway station.
- Line 4: mainly north–south line running to the west of city centre with stops at the Summer Palace, Old Summer Palace, Peking and Renmin Universities, Zhongguancun, National Library, Beijing Zoo, Xidan, Taoranting and Beijing South railway station.
- Line 5: straight north–south line running to the east of the city centre. Line 5 passes the Temple of Earth, Yonghe Temple and the Temple of Heaven.
- Line 6: east–west line running parallel and to the north of Line 1, passing through the city centre north of Beihai Park. At 53.4 km, Line 6 is the second longest Beijing Subway line after Line 10, and runs from Shijingshan District in the west to the Beijing City Sub-Center in Tongzhou District, terminating at Lucheng just beyond the eastern 6th Ring Road.
- Line 7: east–west line running parallel and to the south of Line 1, from Beijing West railway station to. Line 7 serves the old neighborhoods of southern Beijing with stops at, Caishikou and.
- Line 8: north–south line following the Beijing's central axis from Changping District through Huilongguan, the Olympic Green, Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang, where the line veers east of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square with stops at the National Art Museum and Wangfujing before returning to the central axis at Qianmen and continuing due south through Zhushikou and Yongdingmen to Heyi before turning southwest to Yinghai in Daxing District.
- Line 9: north–south line running to the west of Line 4 from the National Library through the Military Museum and Beijing West railway station to Guogongzhuang in the southwestern suburbs.
- Line 10, the outer loop line running beneath or just beyond the Third Ring Road. Apart from the Line 2 loop, which is entirely enclosed within the Line 10 loop, every other line through the urban core intersects with Line 10. In the north, Line 10 traces Beijing's Yuan-era city wall. In the east, Line 10 passes through the Beijing CBD.
- Line 12 follows the northern section of the 3rd Ring Road and then further east into Chaoyang.
- Line 13 arcs across suburbs north of the city and transports commuters to Xizhimen and Dongzhimen, at the northwest and northeast corners of Line 2.
- Line 14: inverted-L shaped line that connects the southwest, southeast and northeast parts of the city. From in the southwest, Line 14 runs due west and enters the Line 10 loop at Xiju and passing through the Beijing South Railway Station, Yongdingmenwai, Puhuangyu, Fangzhuang and leaves the Line 10 loop at Shilihe before turning north at Beijing University of Technology and running south - north outside the Line 10 loop through the Beijing CBD, Chaoyang Park and Jiuxianqiao to Wangjing in the northeast.
- Line 16: line from the northwest suburbs of Haidian District north of the Baiwang Mountain that runs mostly north - south upon entering Line 10 into and, then continuing south through and, before entering and. It then turns west through before ending at in Fengtai District.
- Line 17: north–south express line that runs from to, serving Changping District, Chaoyang District, Dongcheng District and Tongzhou District. The line connects the Future Science Park in Changping with the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area in Yizhuang New Town.
- Line 19: north–south express line from to with stops inside the Line 2 loop at and near Beijing Financial Street.