Chinese Name: 北京市政交通一卡通 (běi jīng shì zhèng jiāo tōng yī kǎ tōng)
Full Name: Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card
Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card is an integrated circuit card, in which there is a hi-tech chip that can be used as an electronic purse for storing numerous payment records. It allows repeated recharging. This little transportation IC card can not only help to save time spent in buying, checking and paying for the tickets, but it can also help to reduce the risk of carrying cash. With an IC card, passengers can also enjoy a certain amount of discount.
Categories
Ordinary Card: It is in fact a stored-value card. Everyone, no matter local people, strangers from other parts of the country, or even foreigners, can apply for this card. No certificate is required, and no registration is submitted with the application. Thus, there will be no refund or compensation if the card is lost. With an ordinary transportation card, passengers can enjoy 60% discount on city buses in Beijing.
Student Card: Offered especially for primary and middle school students in Beijing, a student card is pasted with a photo of the student, with his/her name, sex, name of the school as well as the period of validity approved by the school administration (usually from the enrollment time to the graduation time), and stamped by the school administration. With this card, students can enjoy 80% discount on city buses.
Monthly Card: Valid from the 1st day to the last day of a month, a monthly card displays the applicant’s photo and can only be used by the applicant himself/herself. It can be used for a total of 140 times in a month, having the same 60% discount as the ordinary card.
| Sorts | Cost Per Month (CNY) |
| Student Monthly Card | 20 |
| Adult Monthly Card | 45 |
| Subway Monthly Card | 60 |
| Bus-Subway Joint Monthly Card | 90 |
Short-term Card: For the convenience of short-term travelers in Beijing, Beijing Transportation Smart Card Co. has issued three kinds of short-term transportation cards whose details can be seen in the following table.| Sorts | Cost (CNY) | Period of Validity | Applicability |
| 3-Day Card | 10 | 3 days | With these cards, travelers can take all the city buses in Beijing except for the buses whose bus no. begin with ‘9’. |
| 7-Day Card | 20 | 7 days | |
| 15-Day Card | 40 | 15 days |
Please note that short-term transpiration cards can’t be recharged. Once the card is expired, only the deposit will be refunded. This kind of card has the same discount with the ordinary card.
Special Card: As its name implies, special card, compatible with the ordinary card, is issued for a special purpose, including memorial card, co-branded card, personalized card and shaped card.
Usage: The card is non-contact. Users can just pay the fare by placing it close to the card reader. When taking a bus with a flat fare, simply swipe the card once when getting on. When taking a bus which charges by distance, users must swipe the card as a mark when getting on, and swipe the card again to pay for the tickets when getting off. When taking a bus with a conductor, users must give the card to the conductor and tell him/her the departure and arrival stations. The conductor will deduct the fare from the card manually. When taking the Beijing subway, users should move the card close to the reader when entering and exiting. Except for the airport express line, no matter how long the journey is and how many transfers, only CNY2 is deducted from the card.
Applicability: The card can be used on Beijing city buses and buses to the suburban districts and counties such as Shunyi, Fangshan, Huairou, Daxing, Changping, Mentougou districts and Yanqing, Miyun and Pinggu. It can also be used on Subways, 96% of the taxis in Beijing as well as some of the parking lots, gas (petrol) stations, parks, cinemas, health and sports centers, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, bookstores, department stores and drug stores.
Application: The card is lent to users indeed, so a deposit of CNY20 per card will be charged when applying for it. No less than CNY20 is required when reloading the card the first time. Nearly 200 authorized card issuing points have been set up in Beijing for the convenience of the users. They are located at the subway and bus stations, supermarkets, tourist spots and post offices. No certificate is required when applying for an ordinary card. A student card should be applied for with a recent-taken certificate photo and students’ certificate or new student enrollment notice. A recent-taken certificate-sized photo is required for applying a monthly card. The requirements for applying for a special card may vary from different purposes of issue.
Some of the Major Recharging Places
| Places | Operating Hours |
| Deshengmen (315,380), Andingmen (125,119,407,27), Beijing West Railway Station (52,374,319,21,65,387,320,741), Beijing Zoo (15,103,102,334), Zhongguancun North (320,498,731,814,681), Summer Palace (346,330,690,332,394), Dongdaqiao (109,350,28,433,28), Jinsong (352,8,958,34,36), Gongzhufen (Huandao Center), Shijingshan (337, 354), Dongzhimen (107,123) Sihui (1,322,57,402,405), Chongwenmen (111,108), Pingguoyuan East (311,663,58), Pingguoyuan West (644, Subway Station West) | 07:00-19:00 |
| Fangshan (917), Pinggu (918), Miyun (980), Huairou (916), Yanqing (919), Yanhuan Transfer Center (901), Shunyi (915,924,945,947) | 09:00-16:00 |
| Tiantong Beiyuan (428,758,432,849,523), Dongsishitiao Qiao West (42), Beijing South Railway Station (381,377,63,485,454,939), Xidan Shopping Mall (46), Beijing Railway Station East (10,39,20,25,434), Daguanyuan (56,351), Fuxingmen (395), Shangdi Subway Station (447,448,449,664,521), Newly Built Gate of the Summer Palace (374,437,74), Xizhimen North (375,438,85), Xizhimen South (651,563,362,360,534) Dongdaqiao (350,440,433,28), Capital Airport (359), Sihui (57,322,1,402,405,363), Badachu (347,389,598,958,972), Baiyunlu (114, 308), Workers' Stadium (406,113,115,118,413), Dongzhimen Outside (359) | 07:00-19:00 (26th-3rd of next month) |
Card Returning and Changing: Upon return of the card, the deposit of CNY20 will be refunded. For the balance in the card, if less than CNY100, it will be refunded in full; if more than CNY100, a handling charge of 10% will be deducted. Only destroyed cards can be changed, and the balance in the card will be fully transferred into the new cards. If the card is damaged by man-made factors, CNY20 will be billed at cost. There are special designated points for the returning and changing of the card, distributed in some bus and subway stations and branches of China CITIC Bank (only for card with a balance of less than CNY100).
A. Designated Transportation Smart Card Co.: East side of the Palace of Nationalities, Xidan
B. Designated Bus Stations: West Side of Andingmen, Caoqiao Stop of Bus No. 300, Beihang Liuliqiao Nanli Stop of of Bus No. 323, Beijing Zoo Stop of Bus No. 15, Fuchengmen Stop of Bus No. 335, Dongdaqiao Stop of Bus No. 28, Yamenkou Stop of Bus No. 308, Beijing Railway Station Dongjie Stop of Bus No. 403, Zhanlanlu Stop of Bus No. 103, Wuluju Stop of Bus No.104
C. Designated Subway Station: Fuxingmen Subway Station
D. Designated branches of China CITIC Bank: Sales Department of Chief Bank (Touzi Plaza, A27, Jinrong Dajie, Xicheng District), Jiuxianqiao Branch (Zhaowei Building, No.14, Jiuxian Qiao, Chaoyang District), Weigongcun Branch (1/F, Zhongdian Xinxi Building, No.6, Zhongguancun Nan Dajie, Haidian District), Zhongliang Plaza Branch (Bldg A, No.8, Jianguomen Nei Dajie, Dongcheng District), Chaoyang Branch (No.12, Nongzhanguan Nanli, Chaoyang District), Fuchengmen Branch (Fuchengmen, Xicheng District), Shangdi Branch (West Section, 1/F, Kemao Building, No.4, Section 1, Shangdi Dongli, Haidian District), Olympic Village Branch (Bldg D1, Tianchuang Shiyuan Building, No.309, Huizhong Beili, Chaoyang District), Xidan Branch ( No.45, Fuxingmen Nei Dajie, Xicheng District)
Notes for Use
A. A Beijing transportation Card is a bearer card, with no service for reporting the losses.
B. After having not been reloaded for two years, a card must be recharged or reactivated at the card issuing point before being used, even if there is still balance in the card.
C. Users may just move the card, no matter front or back, close to the card reader, and payment will be accomplished when the sound is heard.
D. There is no value written on the card.
E. Users have to reload at least CNY20 the first time, and CNY10 or multiples of CNY10 thereafter. Due to the risk of loss, the highest recharging value is CNY1, 000.
