This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 19, 1985, in China Daily: A number of problems have been plaguing Beijing’s bus services since the freezing weather set in.

The Beijing Public Transport Company is taking measures such as improving workers’ welfare and enhanced supervision to improve the service.

Each day more than 9.6 million people take buses across Beijing.

To cope with staggering growth, the Beijing Public Transport Company has increased the number of its operating vehicles to 29,515 last year from 4,000 in 1985.

The capital introduced transit cards in 2006, which are used for buses, subways and even to pay tolls on expressways.

As digital payment becomes popular nationwide, online payment companies like Alipay and WeChat Pay have cooperated with bus companies to provide mobile payment services to passengers.

While the payment mode diversified, technology also brings change in bus-waiting experience.

Checking their smartphones, commuters can monitor real-time bus information, including routes, stops and updated arrival time via transport apps such as Baidu Map and Didi Chuxing.

In the past four months, four self-driving buses were tested on public roads in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Test runs covered 8,000 kilometers.

Developed by Shenzhen Haylion Technologies Co, the buses are steered automatically along designated routes.