The metro gets a guide on this site. The bus gets three instructions — take the public bus to Mutianyu, take the green 306 to the Terracotta Army, take a local bus for the last leg into a scenic park — and no explanation whatsoever.
That is the wrong way round for a country where the bus network reaches everywhere the metro does not, costs a fraction of a taxi, and is now covered by more law than it was two years ago.
Two instruments, one of them brand new#
State Council Order No. 793, the Regulations on Urban Public Transport, adopted on 19 August 2024 and in force since 1 December 2024. This is China's first administrative regulation covering urban public transport as a field — six chapters and fifty-five articles — and it sits above everything else here.
Ministry of Transport Order No. 5 of 2017, the Provisions on the Administration of Urban Bus and Trolleybus Passenger Transport, promulgated 7 March 2017 and in force since 1 May 2017. Eight chapters, seventy-one articles, and the one that specifies what must physically be on the vehicle.
Both are current. The 2024 regulation is the framework; the 2017 order is the detail.
The fare is not the operator's to set#
Start here, because it explains why a Chinese city bus costs what it costs.
Article 14 of Order No. 793 provides that urban public transport fares are set by government pricing or government-guided pricing, with a dynamic adjustment mechanism. The company running the route does not price it.
This is why the fare is flat, trivial and the same across a whole city, and why the sums on the budget page are what they are. It is also why there is nothing to negotiate and no premium version: unlike almost every other transport option in China, the bus is a regulated public service rather than a market.
Article 24 adds that operators must extend convenience and preferential treatment to relevant groups in accordance with law — which is the basis for the concessionary travel you will see other passengers using, and not something a visitor should expect to claim.
Everything on the bus is there because of Article 25#
This is the part worth reading before you get on, because it turns a wall of Chinese characters into a set of known objects.
Article 25 of Order No. 5 requires the operator to fit every vehicle in service, at prescribed positions, with:
- the route map and the fare table, published on board;
- the boarding rules and the complaint telephone number, posted in a uniform format;
- special seats for passengers with particular needs;
- and, on conductor-less vehicles, a compliant fare box and electronic card reader.
So the diagram by the door is the route. The small table beside it is the fare. The seats near the front in a different colour are the required special seats. The phone number nobody reads is the complaint line for that operator.
Article 26 does the same job at the stop: at terminals and intermediate stops the operator must publish the route fares, the stop names and the service hours, and post the complaint number. The board at a Chinese bus stop is a legal disclosure rather than a courtesy, which is why it is reliable even in small cities.
Article 20 of Order No. 793 now reinforces that from above: operators must disclose routes, stops, operating hours, headways and fares in a way the public can readily learn them.
The driver has to call the stops#
Article 29 of Order No. 5 is the one that makes the bus usable without Chinese.
Drivers and conductors must give necessary help to elderly, young, sick, disabled and pregnant passengers, and must announce the route name, its direction and the stops.
That announcement is an obligation, not a convenience. In practice it is automated and bilingual in the large cities and Mandarin-only elsewhere, but it always happens — so counting stops against the route diagram works, and the announcement gives you the rhythm even if you cannot follow the words.
Paying, in the order to try it#
The card reader is the mechanism the regulation names, and the phone has largely replaced the card.
- The transport QR in your wallet. Every major city has a bus and metro code inside Alipay or WeChat — the same mini-programme pattern as everything else transactional in China, and the same code usually works on the metro in that city.
- A physical transport card, if you have one already.
- The fare box, as the fallback. It takes what you drop in it and returns nothing, so it is exact-fare only in the most literal sense — a box, not a till, and nobody on board can make change.
Board at the front. On a conductor-less bus you pay as you board and there is no second payment when you leave.
What you may not do#
Article 38 of Order No. 5 puts it plainly: on a bus or in a bus station, passengers may not drink alcohol, smoke, beg or drop litter.
Article 35 of Order No. 793 adds the safety layer: passengers must follow the boarding rules and keep order, and may not carry flammable, explosive, toxic, radioactive or corrosive goods, or anything else that could endanger people or property. If that sounds familiar, it is the same category of restriction that governs what goes through the scanner at a metro station — the difference is that a bus has no scanner, so the duty sits on you rather than on a machine.
Practical#
- Use the map app to pick the route, not the timetable. Chinese mapping apps give live bus positions on most urban routes; the printed headway is an average.
- Check the direction, not just the number. The same route number runs both ways from stops on opposite sides of the road, and the destination is on the front.
- Sit or stand where you can see the diagram. Counting stops beats listening if the announcement is Mandarin-only.
- Offer the special seats. They are required to exist and they are used as intended; sitting in one and not moving is the one clearly rude thing you can do on a Chinese bus.
- Have the fare code open before boarding. Loading it at the reader with a queue behind you is the only stressful part of the whole exercise.
- For a long single leg out of a city, weigh it against the coach and rail options on the transport page — city buses are cheap and slow by design.
Frequently asked questions#
How do I pay for a bus in China?#
Easiest is the city's transport QR code inside Alipay or WeChat, scanned at the reader as you board. A physical transport card works too. Cash goes into a fare box that gives no change, so it is genuinely exact-fare.
Do Chinese city buses announce the stops?#
Yes, and it is a legal duty rather than a courtesy — drivers and conductors must announce the route name, its direction and the stops. Announcements are commonly bilingual in the largest cities and Mandarin-only elsewhere.
Who sets bus fares in China?#
Government. Under the 2024 Regulations on Urban Public Transport, urban public transport fares are subject to government pricing or government-guided pricing with a dynamic adjustment mechanism, so the operator does not set them and there is nothing to negotiate.
What is displayed inside a Chinese bus?#
By rule, the route map, the fare table, the boarding rules, a complaint telephone number and special seats for passengers with particular needs — plus a fare box and card reader on buses with no conductor. The stop outside must show fares, stop names and service hours.
Can I eat or drink on a Chinese city bus?#
Alcohol is expressly prohibited, along with smoking, begging and littering, on the vehicle and in bus stations. Ordinary food and soft drinks are not named in the national rule, but local operators may go further and the polite default is to wait.
Is the bus or the metro better for tourists in China?#
The metro is faster, signed in English and simpler to use; the bus reaches the places the metro does not, including most scenic-area approaches and outer districts. For a visitor the honest answer is metro by default, bus when the metro does not go there.