A Look Back at When Beijing Subway Tickets Were Made From Paper
This article originally appeared on April 13, 2017 (Thursday).
Throwback Thursday
takes a look back into Beijing's past, using our nine-year-strong blog
archives as the source for a glance at the weird and wonderful of
yesteryear.
Can you believe that nine years ago we were
still using paper tickets on the Beijing subway? In April 2008, after
the final test of the new system, it was announced that new-fangled
electronic tickets were given the go-ahead to be introduced citywide on May 17, 2008.
And
with the swipe of a ticket, Beijing left behind the ancient and
easy-to-lose paper tickets for new-fangled 21st century plastic. Whether
this change ever had an impact on fare evasion remains to be seen – it
never was a big issue in the first place – but it’s ease-of-use only
seemed to increase the amount of people taking the subway compared to
the unreliable buses. If you were even in doubt about the numbers – over 10 million people per day – feel free to take Line 10, or worse, transfer to Line 1 or Line 13 between the ungodly hours of 5-7pm.
Nowadays,
we haven’t just swapped paper for electric on the subway but Beijingers
are increasingly reliant on AliPay and WeChat Pay instead of cash, as
evidenced by the ridiculous amount of hongbaos sent over Chinese New Year – a whopping 46 billion this year alone. And we have been blessed with more subway stops and lines than ever, with the opening of Chaoyang Park and Wangjing East subway stations at the end of 2016 to make getting around this sprawling city even easier.
Now
that cash is almost obsolete, we're waiting for the next jump in
payment system technology AKA mobile ticketing via smartphones to be
implemented. However, there's still no word on when that may eventually
come. For now, let us revel in the fact that we no longer have to faff
around with (and most certainly lose) grubby stubs of paper.
Images: Wikipedia, Beijing Impression
Top Stories This Week:
Beijingers Are Buzzing About: