Towards a More Efficient Beijing:
Firstly, in 2001, there was only Line 1 and Line 2. Line 1 is the original line which crosses Tiananmen Square, and is now connected to the Batong line. Line 2 is a little loop line. Beijing has six ring roads, and Line 2 follows the path of the Second Ring Road. At that time, the two lines covered the region of which was the most prosperous in Beijing.
Firstly, in 2001, there was only Line 1 and Line 2. Line 1 is the original line which crosses Tiananmen Square, and is now connected to the Batong line. Line 2 is a little loop line. Beijing has six ring roads, and Line 2 follows the path of the Second Ring Road. At that time, the two lines covered the region of which was the most prosperous in Beijing.
First Expansion:
In 2001, Beijing successfully won the bid to host the 2008 Olympics Games, and then the Chinese government announced that Beijing would expand the subway lines. From 2002 to 2008, the Chinese government spent 8 billion dollar in various subway projects.
In 2007, Line 5 came to operation and the government announced that the subway fare would be declined to 2 RMB, no matter how long a trip will take and how many transfer stations. Before that, the price was around 3 to 5 RMB depending on the distance. There were only 3 rail lines in the summer of 2007, and then one year later, there were 7 lines. From West to East, from North to South, a special Olympic Subway Branch line and a Airport line. And it was also a good encouragement to the public to take the subway in their daily life rather than their own cars, especially during the Olympic Games. By 2008, the annual transportation capacity of the entire city’s public buses reached 4.5 billion trips per year, and there were 18,000 operational vehicles. Beijing has more than 650 public transportation lines [1].
Second Expansion:
Because of the good effects of the first expansion, the Chinese government announced that they would spend 4 trillion RMB to develop the Beijing Subway after Olympics. It stimulated Beijing Subway's second expansion, especially into suburban districts.
Six years later, in 2014, the subway network has expanded by 62.2 km (38.6 mi) to 18 lines and 527 km (327 mi) with the opening of Line 7, the eastern extension of line 6 , the eastern section of line 14, and the western extension of line 15. At the same time, the ¥2 flat-rate fare scheme was ended, with the price raised to anywhere from 3 to 7 RMB. In 2014, the subway delivered 3.387 billion rides for the whole year, an increase of 5.68% from the year before. Average daily and weekday ridership also set new highs of 9.27 million and 10.08 million, respectively.
Now, Beijing has 18 lines including 6 suburban lines [2]. Just from the images and statistics, we can clearly see that the government pays enough attention to the traffic problem. By 2016, a total of 19 lines covering a distance of 561 km will be put into operation [3].
Sources:
[1] 责任与使命-北京地铁发展史,北京地铁运营有限公司,2011
[2] China Today, The Underground Experience, 2006 http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ef885489-89d5-4d20-a8da-802472a6468d%40sessionmgr114&vid=8&hid=106
[3] Chinese Law & Government, Special Plan for Construction and Management of Transportation, 2008 http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local?genre=article&issn=00094609&title=Chinese%20Law%20%26%20Government&volume=41&issue=4&date=20080701&atitle=Special% 20Plan%20for%20Construction%20and%20Management%20of%20Transportation.&spage=62&sid=EBSCO:a9h&pid