This article is from the public number:Interface News (ID:wowjiemian), author: Chun, cover from the East IC
Although the ground passenger flow is declining, Beijing still has more than 8 million passengers traveling by bus every day.
At 8 in the morning, Li Sha, who lives in Tiantongyuan, Changping, Beijing, is going to take the subway line 5 on the line. Tiantongyuan Metro Station is one of the most densely populated stations in Beijing’s morning peak. Every morning, you need to take a few folds in the current-limit isolation fence. It takes 15 to 30 minutes for the team to enter the station.
Before this, Li Sha also needs to crowd the 465 bus in the Beimen Bus Station of Beiyuan District, and drive 2.2 kilometers to change the subway.
Photography: Tang Jun
“I didn’t feel that there were fewer people on the bus, but it was better than the crowded subway.” She chatted with the interface journalist about her travel experience.
But in fact, the number of people taking the bus has actually decreased.
In Beijing, with more than 20 million permanent residents, the average daily passenger flow of the subway in September was close to 12 million. In the ten years from 2008 to 2018, the passenger traffic of Beijing buses dropped by nearly 1 million in the first five years, and the number of passengers dropped by more than 4 million in the second five years.
As more and more subway lines are put into use, and the modes of travel in cities such as private cars, network-owned cars, and shared bicycles are diversified, the number of passengers on the ground buses in the country has also declined overall.
According to the Ministry of Communications, the city’s passenger traffic in the country was 126.224 billion passengers in 2018, of which 69.7 billion passengers were completed, down 3.6% year-on-year; rail transit completed 21.277 billion, up 15.4% year-on-year.
The trend of increasing bus drop in the subway has already taken shape. This also raises a new question for the bus company. Is it sitting still or actively adapting to new changes?
Who is on the bus
Even though annual passenger traffic is declining, buses are still an important part of public transportation. At present, Beijing still has 8 million passengers traveling by bus every day.
Tiantong Beiyuan, where Li Sha lives, is part of Tiantongyuan, a large-scale community. Some residential buildings in the community are more than 3 kilometers away from the subway station. Every day, a large number of commuters will choose to go to work in the same way as her – bus + subway.
“The distance of 2 kilometers, walking a little far, sharing bicycles is not always there, if there is no bus in this section, it is really inconvenient.” Li Sha said.
The Beijing Transportation Development Research Institute found that among the passengers who traveled by public transportation on the working day, 20% of the passengers who traveled by public transportation on the working day would transfer between the ground bus and the rail transit, and 30% of the passengers only took the passenger. Rail transit, while 50% of passengers only take the ground bus.
In addition to commuting to work, the elderly are also the main passenger group of ground transportation. Beijing has a free ride on the ground bus policy for the elderly over 65 years of age. The person in charge of the Beijing Public Transport Bureau said that nearly one-fourth of the passengers in the daily bus and electric passengers are driving the old-age card.
A group of old people who got up at the earliest boarded the bus at five or six o’clock and went to the major parks for morning exercises. At the end of the morning rush, the old man pulling a portable shopping cart to buy food began to appear on the bus. In the evening, there will be old people on the bus who will take their grandchildren out of school.
Students in the compulsory education stage are generally close to school, and public transportation is one of the main modes of transportation for them to go to and from school. The entrance to the secondary school of Communication University of China is the Dahuangzhuang Bridge East Bus Station. Every afternoon, many students take the bus home.
Student and other passengers are waiting. Shooting: Tang Jun
In the night when the subway is out of service, buses become an important capacity supplement. At 0:30 in the morning, the night 27 road from Tongzhou to Guomao was still full of people. More than 30 passengers were all drivers. The aisles were filled with the trolleys they needed to work.
Photograph: Tang Jun
A driver tells the interface news reporter that he lives in Tongzhou, where the rent is cheaper. Every night around 12 o’clock, he will take the night 27 road to the main city to do the driving, because the business at night is better. When the bus is approaching the terminal, the driver on the driver will open the mobile APP and open the order mode. After getting off the bus, the driver on the ride disappeared in the building of Guomao on his own car.
Night 27 Road U-turn back, the car carrying programmers, construction workers, salesmen of various night shift passengers, ending a tidal life, leaving the CBD to return to the residence of Tongzhou.
On the weekend, Zhang Gang, who works in Yizhuang, likes to choose to take the bus to the city. “From Yizhuang, take the subway several times to get to the city, and the walking distance is long when you transfer. The 846 road at my door can go directly to the East Third Ring Road, and there is no traffic jam on the weekend. There are seats and experience is better than the subway. Too much.” Zhang Gang said.
Although the bus is still meeting the needs of different groups, the overall passenger flow of the bus is decreasing and the passenger flow is not lost.The fact of contention. During non-commuting hours, some buses have only a single digit of passenger capacity, and many people have said that they have not taken public transportation for many years.
In the first quarter of 2019, the average daily passenger traffic of ground transportation on the working day in Beijing decreased by 13.5% year-on-year, and rail transit increased by 4.3% year-on-year.
New changes to the bus
The overall mode of transportation in the city has changed, and bus companies are also adapting to new demands.
The road conditions in the big cities are congested, and the bus is in the long-distance passenger transportation. Compared with the subway, it lacks the advantage of timeliness. “It’s still a good way to take the subway.” It is a time-honored person who would rather endure the crowded subway.
In the context of the gradual formation of a networked development of the subway, the Beijing Public Transport Company began to phase out long-distance buses many years ago.
“There are many routes in the past, and the routes of 30 to 40 kilometers are very common. Now only some of the trunk bus corridors have been reserved.” Ji Xinrong, deputy manager of the Beijing Public Transport Group Network Center, told the interface news. On the Chang’an Street, the No. 300 road around the Third Ring Road is the long-distance bus that has been retained.
Ji Xinrong said that the main idea of the Beijing bus network planning is to reduce the repetitive lines in the main city, increase the bus coverage between the four rings to the six rings, increase the lines connecting the subway and the micro-circulation lines, and develop customized buses. .
Interface news reporters noted that most of the 22 new lines opened in Beijing in June this year were short-haul subway lines or micro-circulation lines.
For example, the newly opened special 14 road has a total length of less than 5 kilometers, but it is connected to the Metro Line 14 Shangezhuang Station and the Metro Line 15 Maquanying Station and surrounding residential areas. The long-distance lines opened in the area are mostly located in the outer suburbs where the public transportation is not yet available.
Whether to open a new bus line, the bus company will decide based on credit card data, passenger flow, city data of the city government, and passenger and community feedback.
The traffic in Huilongguan area has not been very smooth, and local residents have reflected this. For this purpose, the special 80-way bus has optimized the driving route, from the original small circular line, to the two loops that pass through the community, and connected to the Longze Station of Metro Line 13.