Beijing Subway will provide a new type of ticket, which can entitle passengers to unlimited travel by metro within 24 hours. The city will further integrate its subway system with its bus lines, and passengers can take the subway and the bus using a single mobile application.

According to a person in charge at the Municipal Transportation Commission, at present Beijing Subway adopts mileage pricing, and passengers can buy a one-way ticket or use a rechargeable card. A variety of new types of tickets will be provided soon, and the first one is the single day ticket, with which passengers can take an unlimited number of rides within a 24-hour period. The new type of ticket is designed to promote tourism in the city. Purchasers will be given the ticket in the form of a QR code to be used electronically, eliminating the needs for deposits for a physical card.

Rong Jun, spokesperson for the Municipal Transportation Commission, said the public transportation authority will analyze commuting data during holidays and find out the needs of short-term visitors to Beijing, and the pricing of the "day ticket" also needs to be comprehensively estimated.

"We have to strike a balance," Rong said. "You don't want to set the price too high because you need to make sure that the 'day ticket' is attractive and, at the same time, it won't cause too much pressure on public transportation."

In addition, the city is planning to launch a new type of "joint ticket" that connects the city's subway and bus systems. Rong said that since new subway lines are opened every year drawing passenger flows, the number of passengers who take the bus is likely to remain stable or even drop a little bit. And the new "joint ticket" for both buses and subways is expected to balance that situation.

This year, Beijing's public transport equipment will also be updated in preparation for the launch of the joint ticket. At the same time, the city will integrate its mobile ticketing application so that passengers can use one application to take all kinds of public transports. In addition, Beijing will start a new round of subway construction, and accelerate the building of Line 3, Line 12, and Line 16.

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