Public Buses in China: How to Pay, Ride and Know Your Stop

City buses in China are cheap and go where the metro doesn't: into scenic areas, to the gates of parks and temples, and out to airports. For a visitor, take the metro for long trips across town and use the bus for the last stretch, for scenic areas where cars are restricted, and for a sightseeing double-decker. A regular ride costs a couple of yuan. In Beijing it is 2 yuan for the first 10 km, and in central Shanghai ordinary lines charge a flat 2 yuan. Pay with a transit QR code on your phone, a local transport card, or exact coins, since buses in cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen give no change. In Chengdu you can also tap a Visa or Mastercard directly on the bus card reader.

When the bus is the better choice

For most first-time visitors, the metro is the main way to get around. It is quick, it doesn't sit in traffic, and the signs are easier to follow. Our metro systems guide covers how to use it, and the city transportation guide explains how metro, bus, taxi and ride-hailing fit together. A bus is worth it in these cases:

• The metro stops short. Many sights sit one or two kilometres from the nearest station. A short bus ride from the station exit saves you a long walk or a taxi wait.
• Cars are restricted. Hangzhou's West Lake is the clearest example. On weekends and public holidays, including the long Golden Week breaks, from 08:00 to 17:00 (from 04:00 on the first and fifth days of Spring Festival), taxis and ride-hailing cars may not drive into the Lingyin temple area; passengers have to change to a shuttle bus at the Xixi Road No. 608 car park or the Xiaoyawu bus stop, and the city recommends the metro plus shuttle bus lines to get into the scenic area.
• You want to see the city. A double-decker sightseeing bus in Shanghai or Beijing shows you the streets the metro runs under.
• You are going to or from the airport and the bus stops close to your hotel.

Skip the bus when you are short on time or traffic is heavy. Rush-hour buses are slow and packed. With big suitcases, a taxi or ride-hailing car is easier; see our guide to taxis and ride-hailing in China.

Long-distance coaches between cities are a different system with their own stations and tickets. Our China transportation overview covers them.

How to pay

Each city runs its own buses, so how you pay depends on the city. There are four ways, and most visitors use the first.

1. A transit QR code on your phone

Most riders pay with a ride code (乘车码, chéngchē mǎ): a QR code in an app that you scan on the reader by the door. Alipay's international version lets visitors from abroad link an international card and use it for public transport, along with shopping and taxis. In Hangzhou and five other Zhejiang cities (Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua), Hangzhou's tourism bureau describes the steps: register Alipay with your phone number, link a Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club or Discover card, open "Transport" (出行, chūxíng) on the home screen and claim the local city's ride code, then scan it on buses and at metro gates. In other cities, open Alipay's Transport section once you arrive and see whether that city's bus code is listed. Our guide to using Alipay with a foreign card covers linking the card.

Some cities have their own apps:

• Shanghai: the city's official transport app, Suishenxing (随申行, "SH MaaS" in English), has an English version that accepts foreign phone numbers. Its ride code works on the metro, buses and ferries, you pay after you ride, and it takes Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club and JCB cards.
• Shenzhen: buses accept the Shenzhen Tong QR code or the Tencent ride code, which opens as a mini-program inside WeChat or Alipay.
• Beijing: QR codes from official ticketing apps get the same discount as a transport card.
• Anywhere: UnionPay's Nihao China app says its ride code covers buses in more than 1,760 county-level areas. It is a reasonable backup if Alipay won't give you a code.

Set the code up on Wi-Fi before your first ride, and have it open as the bus pulls in.

2. A transport card

A plastic card is handy if you will ride a lot, if your phone battery is a worry, or if you are travelling with someone who doesn't use a smartphone.

• Beijing: BEIJING PASS is the international version of Beijing's transport card, sold to foreigners with a passport for 20 yuan at both airports and at selected metro stations; it works on more than 1,700 bus lines, the metro and taxis, and the balance (but not the card price) can be refunded. The ordinary Yikatong (一卡通, "one card") is sold without ID for a 20 yuan deposit and also works on buses.
• Shanghai: the Shanghai Public Transportation Card costs a 20 yuan deposit, which you get back if the card is undamaged, and works on regular buses (not tourist lines), the metro, taxis and city ferries.
• Cards that work in many cities: cards with the China T-Union logo (交通联合, Jiāotōng Liánhé) work across more than 300 cities, though discounts outside the city that issued the card follow local rules. Whether a visitor can buy one depends on the city that sells it, so ask at the counter.

3. Tapping a foreign bank card

This works on buses in fewer places than on the metro. Chengdu is the clear case: since 28 July 2025, the card readers on Chengdu Bus Group's regular routes, its bus rapid transit (BRT) gates, and the card terminals at its airport and tourist-line stops accept UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards directly. Sichuan's foreign affairs office has the official announcement (in Chinese). Use a contactless chip card. If yours is declined, your bank may need to turn on contactless or small-payment approval.

Shenzhen buses accept UnionPay bank cards along with local transport cards, and the official notice names only UnionPay, not Visa or Mastercard. In other cities, look for a card-network logo on the reader by the door, and keep a ride code ready in case it isn't there.

4. Cash

Cash is the backup, and it needs exact money. In Beijing you pay by distance in coins and no change is given. Shenzhen accepts yuan in cash, but buses with no conductor don't give change, and an official Qianhai guide suggests carrying spare 1-yuan coins to drop in when you board. If you put in more than the fare, the extra is gone. Keep a few small coins or notes in a pocket for the day your phone dies.

Our advice: set up a ride code in Alipay (or Suishenxing in Shanghai) before you arrive, and carry a little change as a backup. Buy a transport card only if you will be in one city for several days or have someone with you who can't use a phone code.

What a ride costs

The table above lists the official fares. Since a ride costs so little, how you pay matters more than the price:

• In Beijing, don't pay cash if you can avoid it. A transport card or official app code gets 50% off on routes inside the city, the same discount for both.
• In Guangzhou, the price belongs to the line, not to your trip: it is set by the length of the whole route, so a two-stop hop on a long line costs the long-line fare.
• In Shenzhen, fares start at 1 yuan and vary by line.
• In Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi'an and Chongqing, check the fare on the stop sign, on the bus or in your ride-code app before you board.

Transfers can save a little more. In Shanghai, if you use the same card or ride code and enter the metro (or another bus) within 120 minutes of tapping on a bus, you get 1 yuan off, and the city says foreign users of the code get the same discount as residents. In Shenzhen, changing from a bus to the metro within 90 minutes takes 0.4 yuan off, but only with a Shenzhen Tong card or a Shenzhen-issued T-Union card, not with ride codes or bank cards. Xi'an gives up to three discounts of 0.2 yuan each when you change within 90 minutes using the same payment method; from bus to metro this works only with the Alipay code, and tourist line 306 (You 5) is excluded.

Day passes help only if you will ride a lot:

• Shanghai: the SH MaaS Pass in the Suishenxing app costs 19.8 yuan for 24 hours, 47.8 yuan for three days and 85.8 yuan for seven days, and covers city buses, the metro and Huangpu River ferries for foot passengers; it does not cover the maglev, airport lines or tourist lines.
• Hangzhou: a bus day pass is sold in Alipay under Transport, then "Bus day pass", at 8.8 yuan for one day and 15.8 yuan for two days, valid on Hangzhou Bus Group lines that cost 8 yuan or less in the ten urban districts; check that it is still listed in Alipay before you count on it. It suits a day of riding the West Lake shuttle buses.

Children ride free in Beijing if they are 1.3 metres tall or shorter. Other cities set their own rules, so check before you board.

Getting on, tapping and getting off

On many city buses people get on at the front and get off at the back. Shenzhen lets you use either door on its distance-fare lines. If you are not sure, watch where people are getting on and follow them.

The most important thing to know is whether your line charges a flat fare or by distance:

• Flat-fare line: tap or scan once when you get on and you're done.
• Distance-based line: tap when you get on and again when you get off. In Beijing, regular bus lines all charge by distance, so card and code users always tap at both ends, and a trip can last no more than 4 hours. On Shenzhen's distance-fare lines, the tap when you get on charges nothing and the tap when you get off takes the fare; your balance has to cover the line's lowest fare when you board.
• Not sure which kind you're on? Watch the people getting off. If they tap the reader by the back door, tap too.

Forgetting the second tap costs you. In Shenzhen, the first three missed taps are charged the lowest fare, and after that you pay the highest fare possible from your boarding stop, to whichever end of the line costs more. The Shenzhen Transport Bureau's notice on distance-fare buses (in Chinese) has the full rules, and Beijing Public Transport publishes its ticket rules (in Chinese).

Knowing when to get off

Some cities announce stops in English as well as Chinese. In Beijing, all bus lines announce stops in Chinese and English. In Shenzhen, all 13,600 buses do the same, and the names on all 11,000 bus stops are shown in English. In other cities you may hear Chinese only, so don't depend on the announcement.

What works everywhere:

1. Before you board, save the name of your stop in Chinese characters as a screenshot.
2. Once on board, open a map app and watch your blue dot move along the route.
3. When you are one stop away, move toward the exit door. If the bus has a stop button, press it; if nobody is getting off and you see no button, tell the driver or show the screenshot.
4. If you're lost, show your screenshot to the person next to you. People are usually happy to point when it is your stop.

At the stop, check the sign. It lists every stop on the line in order, so make sure your destination is further along in the direction the bus is going and not behind you. Two stops with the same name on opposite sides of the road serve opposite directions.

Buses worth riding: sightseeing, airport, night and scenic lines

Sightseeing buses

Shanghai's City Sightseeing double-deckers are the easiest way to see the centre from the top deck. A one-day ticket costs 60 yuan and covers any line for 24 hours from first use, and a two-day ticket costs 80 yuan. Line 1 runs from 09:00 to 19:00 past People's Square, the Bund, Yu Garden and Xintiandi, and some lines run evening trips from 16:30 to 20:30. Tickets are sold on the City Sightseeing WeChat mini-program, Meituan, Trip.com and Klook, or at stops along the route, and a screenshot of a ticket is not accepted on board. If you want the ticket sorted before the trip, you can book it on Klook. Routes and times change with the season, so check the current times when you book.

Beijing's sightseeing buses are run by the Beijing Tourism Distribution Center. In the August 2024 line-up, the Jingshan–Houhai double-decker shuttle runs about 5 km from Shenwumen (the north gate of the Forbidden City) to Beihai Park's north gate, stopping near Nanluoguxiang, for 10 yuan; a night double-decker leaves Qianmen at 19:00 for the Bird's Nest and Water Cube for 60 yuan including commentary; and a Chang'an Avenue night tour runs 17:00–22:00 for 50 yuan. Booking is through the centre's WeChat official account. The night tours are seasonal, so check the account for this season's schedule before you go.

Smaller cities have them too. In Datong, a double-decker line opened on 23 August 2026 from the old city's Taiping Tower to the Yungang Grottoes, about 50 minutes each way for 15 yuan, running 08:00–17:00 with a guide on board. The line is new, so check the current hours before you go, especially in winter.

Airport buses

Airport buses are slower than an airport train but often stop near city-centre hotels, and they carry luggage easily. Some examples:

• Beijing Capital: city airport buses have eight fare levels by stop, from 15 to 80 yuan; tickets are sold outside Gate 11 on Level 1 of Terminal 2 and inside Gate 1 on Level 1 of Terminal 3.
• Chongqing Jiangbei: the K01 airport express runs from Terminal 3 to Jiefangbei in about 65 minutes for 15 yuan, from 08:30 until 30 minutes after the last arriving flight.
• Chengdu Tianfu: six airport bus lines run around the clock from outside Gate G01 at Terminal 1 and Gate G03 at Terminal 2, and the official "Chengdu Bus" mini-program has the current routes and times.

For every option at the big airports, including trains and taxis, see our guide to airport-to-city transfers.

Night buses

Night buses cover the hours after the metro closes. Guangzhou runs night lines at 3 or 4 yuan. Shanghai Pudong Airport's Shouhang late-night line (守航夜宵线, "night-watch line") leaves Terminal 1 from 23:00 to 05:30, departing when full and at least every 30 minutes; it goes to the east transport centre at the Hongqiao hub, with fares from 18 to 34 yuan. Beijing Daxing Airport has two night lines into the city, the west line to Yonghegong (Lama Temple) and the east line to Sanyuanqiao, boarding at the city-bus waiting area inside Gate 20 on the east side of Level 1. At night, check that the line runs in your direction before you count on it, and keep a taxi as the fallback.

Scenic-area buses

Many big sights are reached by a metro ride plus a short bus. For the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, take Metro Line 3 to Panda Avenue station, leave by Exit A and take shuttle bus 408 to the south gate; there are also direct scenic-area buses from Chunxi Road, Kuanzhai Alley and other spots. For the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, a tourist bus leaves the Dongzhimen bus stop at 08:30 and returns at 16:00, and you buy the ticket on board. In Hangzhou, the West Lake shuttle lines connect with metro stations such as Longxiangqiao, Wulin Square and Fengqi Road.

Finding your route and getting past the language barrier

A map app does most of the work. Amap (高德地图, Gāodé Dìtú) has a multilingual version for foreign visitors that gives the same bus, walking, cycling and driving directions local users get. Type your destination, choose the public transport tab, and it tells you the bus number, where to board, and how many stops to ride. Our map apps guide compares Amap with the other options.

For live arrival times, check the city's own tools. Shanghai's Suishenxing app shows first and last buses for each line and real-time arrivals. In Shenzhen, scanning the QR code on a bus stop sign gives you the route in English with live arrival times.

For signs and short talks with the driver:

• Keep your destination's name in Chinese characters on your phone. Pinyin is hard for drivers to read.
• Apple's Translate app can translate text through the camera, including street signs, which helps with a stop sign or a notice on the bus.
• Download an offline language pack before the trip. Our translation apps comparison covers which apps work offline.

In short: set up an Alipay ride code (or Suishenxing in Shanghai) before you arrive, carry a few coins as a backup, and check whether your line wants a second tap when you get off. Use the metro for distance and the bus for the last stretch, scenic areas and the top deck of a sightseeing bus.

Last updated: October 2026