Beijing’s public transportation system is about to change into extra foreigner-friendly, with the Chinese language capital testing the feasibility of introducing an all-in-one metropolis journey move.
For starters, the Beijing Cross will improve the comfort of subway journey for international guests, who will be capable to use their worldwide financial institution playing cards to buy the move on the metropolis’s seven railway stations and two airports which have built-in subway traces.
To facilitate the graceful launch of the Beijing Cross, subway stations are at present present process on-site testing, the town authorities mentioned.
Wu Lihong, a professor on the China Academy of Tradition and Tourism of Beijing Worldwide Research College, mentioned the Beijing Cross will permit international guests to discover the town at their comfort, with out having to fret about fee hurdles whereas utilizing public transportation.
“If the move might be built-in with Alipay, a extensively used Chinese language digital fee platform, it should additionally save time and make it simpler for foreigners to make use of public transportation,” Wu mentioned.
Beijing’s new foreigner-friendly transfer comes at a time when the town is witnessing a speedy improve within the variety of abroad guests. The capital has already launched a number of amenities to serve them higher.
For instance, all 335 stations throughout the 17 traces managed by Beijing Subway have been geared up with point-of-sale machines as of June 1. These machines permit international passengers to buy tickets utilizing worldwide financial institution playing cards. The authorities plan to introduce further companies, equivalent to permitting foreigners to make use of their worldwide financial institution playing cards immediately on the platform gates.
Ronan, a French worldwide scholar in Beijing, mentioned the plan to introduce an all-in-one public transportation card is a welcome transfer.
“My pals who visited Beijing couldn’t use Alipay for public transportation as a result of they didn’t have Chinese language telephone numbers. Alipay is sort of handy for foreigners who’ve lived in huge cities for some time, however for international vacationers, the brand new choice (Beijing Cross) shall be higher,” he mentioned.
Along with taking steps to streamline fee companies, Beijing Subway has piloted the set up of multilingual translation gadgets at eight stations that international travellers steadily go to, equivalent to Tian’anmen West on Line 1, to supply them extra correct and detailed details about subway schedules.
Moreover, bilingual bulletins in Chinese language and English have been began at main railway stations, the 2 airports, and subway stations close to vacationer sights.
In response to information from the Beijing Basic Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, as of 29 July, the variety of entries and exits at Beijing’s ports exceeded 10 million this yr, surpassing the full quantity for the entire of final yr.
Amongst these folks, greater than 1.2 million had been inbound international guests, a year-on-year improve of 210 per cent.
Aside from Beijing, different main cities in China equivalent to Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, are additionally making public transportation extra accessible for worldwide guests by introducing comparable passes and permitting taxi fares to be paid with worldwide bank cards.