Beijing · fares by rule

Beijing taxi and transit fares

In short

What does a Beijing taxi or metro ride actually cost?

Beijing sets its taxi meter and metro fares by rule, not by the driver. A cab starts at ¥13 for the first 3 km, then ¥2.3 per km, with 20% added between 23:00 and 05:00; the ordinary metro runs ¥3 to ¥6 by distance. If a fare looks wrong, call 12328 for service or 12345 for price.

Street-taxi guide

Applies to

Visitors taking cruising (street or ranked) taxis and the ordinary Beijing subway inside the Beijing administrative area.

Check before you rely on it

These are Beijing-only regulated figures. Day-rate charters and trips leaving Beijing are market-priced, the airport-express lines carry their own fares, and every other Chinese city sets its own tariff — so do not carry these numbers elsewhere.

The point of a metered city is that you can check the driver's number against the rule. Below is the Beijing meter, the metro distance table, and the two city lines to call — each with the official page it was read from.

A Beijing taxi in Tongzhou. — The meter in a car like this one is fixed by the city transport commission, not by the driver: ¥13 for the first 3 km, then ¥2.3 per km. Knowing that is what turns a running total into something you can check.
Photograph by 維基小霸王, CC BY-SA 4.0 — source and licence

Official rules · read August 2, 2026

The Beijing meter, the metro table, and the complaint lines

Three official Beijing pages: the municipal taxi fare standard, the price authority's metro table, and the Transport Commission's complaint lines. Each row states what it means for you, the figure verbatim, and where in the rule to check it.

What a Beijing taxi meter actually charges, clause by clause
What it means for you	What the rule states	Where in the rule
The meter is fixed by rule: ¥13 to start, then ¥2.3 per km	Beijing's standard sets the flag-down at ¥13 for the first 3 km and a base rate of ¥2.3 per km beyond it. The driver does not choose this, so you can sanity-check the running total instead of guessing whether the fare is fair.	Clause (一)
A stuck taxi keeps billing — the low-speed rule, not the driver cheating	Below 12 km/h the meter adds 2 km of the rate every 5 minutes during the peaks and 1 km every 5 minutes off-peak. This is why a taxi crawling in Beijing traffic still climbs, and it is the fact most likely to read as overcharging to a first-timer — it is the tariff, applied by speed.	Clauses (二) and (八) note 1
The peak windows that trigger the higher low-speed rate	The morning peak is 07:00 (inclusive) to 09:00 (exclusive) and the evening peak is 17:00 (inclusive) to 19:00 (exclusive). Inside those windows the low-speed rule bills the higher 2 km per 5 minutes; outside them it is 1 km.	Clause (八) note 1
A ride between 23:00 and 05:00 is billed 20% more — the exact late-arrival window	From 23:00 (inclusive) to 05:00 (exclusive) the base rate rises 20%. That is the surcharge a late-night flight actually pays, stated to the minute, so a higher after-midnight fare is a rule and not the driver improvising a night price.	Clause (五)
Past 15 km one-way, the base rate climbs 50%	On the portion of a one-way trip beyond 15 km the base rate goes up 50%. A round trip whose start and end are within 2 km of each other does not add this empty-return charge. It explains why a long cross-city or airport run is legitimately dearer.	Clause (四)
A shared ride is billed at 60% of the solo fare on the shared leg	On the carpooled portion of a trip, each passenger pays 60% of what the non-shared fare would have been for that stretch — so agreeing to share is a real discount, set by rule rather than by the driver.	Clause (六)
Booking a taxi ahead adds a small fixed fee	A reservation costs ¥6 if booked more than 4 hours ahead and ¥5 within 4 hours. It is a legitimate line on the fare, not padding added because you are a foreigner.	Clause (三)
¥1 fuel per trip, and any road or bridge tolls, sit on top of the meter	A flat ¥1 fuel surcharge applies per trip, and tolls (road and bridge) are the passenger's to pay in addition to the meter. Both are proper additions a first-timer can mistake for overcharging.	Clauses (七) and (八) note 3
Small gaps from your own arithmetic are expected: the meter steps and rounds	The meter measures distance in 500 m steps and time in 2.5-minute steps, and the final charge is rounded to the nearest whole yuan. A total that differs slightly from a hand calculation is the rounding rule, not padding.	Clause (八) note 2
Day-rate charters and trips leaving Beijing are NOT on this meter	Charters settled by the day, and passenger trips that leave the Beijing administrative area, are market-priced rather than metered. This is exactly why the figures above are the in-Beijing cruising-taxi standard specifically — the boundary that keeps them from being over-generalised.	Clause (八) note 4

Read off: Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (北京市交通委员会) — 《巡游出租汽车运价标准的规定》 (Cruising Taxi Fare-Standard Rules) (page dated 2023-03-10; read August 2, 2026)

Beijing metro fare by distance, from the price authority
What it means for you	What the rule states	Where in the rule
The ordinary metro is distance-priced, so you can predict the fare before boarding	A single ordinary-metro ride is ¥3 up to 6 km, ¥4 for 6–12 km, ¥5 for 12–22 km, ¥6 for 22–32 km, and beyond 32 km each extra ¥1 buys another 20 km. The upper number of each band is inclusive (6, 12, 22 and 32 km each fall in the lower band), so a trip is priced from its distance rather than a flat fare.	京发改〔2014〕2526号 (metro)
The transit-card discount is a monthly total, not a per-ride cut	Paying with a municipal transit card (一卡通), once your rides in one calendar month pass ¥100 the remaining rides are 20% off, past ¥150 they are 50% off, and past ¥400 the discount stops. It mostly matters to residents who commute; a short-stay visitor paying by QR code or single tickets does not reach it.	京发改〔2014〕2526号 (card discount)
The airport-express lines are priced separately from the table above	The Capital Airport Express base fare is ¥26.7 and the Daxing Airport Express base fare is ¥36.5, with the operator setting actual fares no higher than that cap. These are a separate airport-line tariff, so do not extend the ¥3–¥6 distance bands to the airport express.	京发改规〔2019〕2号 · 京发改〔2019〕1153号
Surface buses run on their own, cheaper scale	A city bus or trolley is ¥2 up to 10 km, then ¥1 per additional 5 km — a different table from the metro, priced under the same 2014 document. Useful for comparing a short hop, but it is not the subway fare.	京发改〔2014〕2526号 (surface bus)

Read off: Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform (北京市发展和改革委员会), the price authority — 公共交通价格 (Public-transport prices) (data date 2020-06-30, priced under 京发改〔2014〕2526号; read August 2, 2026)

Who to call if a Beijing taxi refuses you or overcharges
What it means for you	What the rule states	Where in the rule
A taxi refusal or overcharge goes to 12328	On its own Q&A page the Beijing Transport Commission names 12328 as the transport-service supervision line for enquiries and complaints — the number a refused, overcharged, or lost-bag taxi complaint lands on.	Enquiry / complaint hotlines
A pricing dispute goes to 12345	The same page names 12345 as the price supervision line. The split is deliberate: 12328 is for the service (a driver's conduct), 12345 is for the price — so route your call by the kind of problem rather than collapsing both into one number.	Enquiry / complaint hotlines

Read off: Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (北京市交通委员会) — 对道路停车有疑问时，如何进行咨询和投诉？ (Transport Commission Q&A knowledge base) (page dated 2022-04-26; read August 2, 2026)

These are Beijing's own regulated figures, read off three official pages: the Beijing municipal taxi fare standard, the Beijing price authority's metro table, and the Beijing Transport Commission's complaint lines. They hold inside the Beijing administrative area only. Day-rate charters and trips leaving Beijing are market-priced, not on this meter (taxi note 4). The metro distance bands are for the ordinary subway, not the Capital or Daxing airport-express lines, which carry their own base fares. The transit-card discount is a monthly-accumulation rule for card holders, not a per-ride cut a short-stay visitor reaches. And no opening hours are asserted for 12328 or 12345, because the source page states the numbers but not their hours. Every other Chinese city sets its own taxi tariff and metro table — do not carry ¥13 / ¥2.3-per-km or the ¥3–¥6 metro bands to another city.

Worked from the published tariff

What 10 km actually comes to: about ¥30

The table above gives you the ingredients; this is them multiplied out. Every figure below is one of the clauses already on this page, so no new source and no new number enters here — only the arithmetic, with what it leaves out written next to it rather than underneath.

A 10 km Beijing daytime ride, calculated from the published tariff
Step	Why it is that figure	Running total	Where in the rule
The first 3 km are already inside the flag-down	Beijing's standard sets the flag-down at ¥13 covering the first 3 km, so the meter does not start adding per-kilometre charges until kilometre four. This is the line most fare estimates get wrong, by treating ¥13 as a flat boarding charge on top of the distance.	¥13.00	Clause (一)
The remaining 7 km at the base rate	¥2.3 per km beyond the flag-down mileage, so 10 km leaves 7 km to charge: ¥2.3 × 7 = ¥16.10.	+ ¥16.10 → ¥29.10	Clause (一)
The per-trip fuel surcharge	A flat ¥1 fuel surcharge applies per trip, on top of the meter. It is a published line, not padding.	+ ¥1.00 → ¥30.10	Clauses (七) and (八) note 3
The standard rounds the charge to whole yuan	The meter measures distance in 500 m steps and time in 2.5-minute steps, and the final charge is rounded to the nearest whole yuan. So the figure the tariff produces for this ride is about ¥30 rather than ¥30.10.	about ¥30	Clause (八) note 2
Not in this example: traffic	Below 12 km/h the meter adds 2 km of the rate every 5 minutes in the peaks and 1 km every 5 minutes off-peak. A 10 km ride through a Beijing peak will read above ¥30 for exactly this reason, and the amount depends on how long you sat still — which is why no honest example can include it.	excluded	Clauses (二) and (八) note 1
Not in this example: the night rate, booking fees and tolls	From 23:00 to 05:00 the base rate rises 20%; a reservation adds ¥6 more than 4 hours ahead or ¥5 within 4 hours; road and bridge tolls are the passenger's to pay on top of the meter. Each is its own published rule above, and each would move this total.	excluded	Clauses (五), (三), (七)
Not reached at 10 km: the long-haul uplift	The 50% uplift applies to the portion of a one-way trip beyond 15 km, so a 10 km ride never enters it. The example sits inside the plain tariff band — stated so the exclusion list is complete rather than selective.	not triggered	Clause (四)

This is the published Beijing tariff computed, not a fare anyone was charged. Every figure in it — ¥13, the first 3 km, ¥2.3 per km, the ¥1 fuel surcharge and the rounding rule — is already on this page with its clause number, and no new source was opened to build it, so the page's information-checked date has not moved. It assumes a daytime ride with free-flowing traffic, no waiting, no reservation and no tolls. The standard itself meters distance in 500 m steps and time in 2.5-minute steps before rounding to whole yuan, so a real meter total differs by design; in traffic it will differ by more. Treat ¥30 as the floor a 10 km Beijing ride is built from, not as the price you will pay.

What this page could not confirm

Where these numbers stop

The four fact clusters above were each read off their official owner this pass. These are the things this page deliberately does not state, because the sources do not.

Hotline hours. The Transport Commission page names 12328 and 12345 but does not state their opening hours, so this page does not claim one. If you need the 12328 complaint centre's stated duties and hours, its intro PDF on jtw.beijing.gov.cn was not opened this pass.
Airport-express fare detail. The Capital (¥26.7) and Daxing (¥36.5) base fares are a cap; the operator sets the actual per-trip fares below it, and this page does not reproduce that fare schedule.
Out-of-Beijing and charter prices. Day-rate charters and trips that leave the Beijing area are market-priced by rule, so there is no regulated number to quote for them.
Any other city. Every Chinese city sets its own taxi tariff and metro table; nothing here transfers to Shanghai, Guangzhou, or elsewhere.

National layer

The fares here are Beijing's; a ride-hail passenger's rights are national

This page carries the numbers that hold only inside Beijing. What every licensed ride-hailing platform in the Chinese mainland owes a passenger — receipts, the fare shown before you ride, and how a dispute is handled — is set by national regulation, not by any one city. That sits, article by article, on the national ride-hailing page.

Read the national ride-hailing regulation

Three cities, three tariffs

A fare you learned in one Chinese city is not a benchmark for the next

City	What only this city does	Set by
Beijing	In a jam the meter keeps running by time: below 12 km/h it bills 2 km of rate every 5 minutes at peak, 1 km off-peak.	Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport fare standard
Shanghai	Touran-type and Roewe Ei5 electric cabs start at ¥16 for the same first 3 km — a regulated car-type difference, not overcharging.	Shanghai Municipal Commission of Transport standard, guided-price band 沪交道运〔2021〕1119号
Guangzhou	Low speed is billed by the hour rather than as added distance: below 10 km/h the meter charges a base ¥44 per hour.	穗发改规字〔2024〕9号 (development-and-reform commission + transport bureau)

Three cities, three separate municipal instruments — this table exists to show that they do not agree, not to average them. Every other Chinese city sets its own tariff under its own notice, so none of these numbers travels. Each row links to the page that carries that city's rule with its own official source.

In short

Beijing fare questions travellers actually ask

What 10 km costs, why a real meter reads higher than the arithmetic, and how the same trip prices up on the metro.

Are taxis expensive in Beijing? What does a 10 km ride cost?

Calculated from the city's published tariff, a 10 km daytime ride with free-flowing traffic comes to about ¥30: ¥13 covers the first 3 km under Clause (一), the remaining 7 km are ¥2.3 each (¥16.10), and the ¥1 per-trip fuel surcharge under Clauses (七) and (八) note 3 brings it to ¥30.10, which the rounding rule in Clause (八) note 2 makes about ¥30. That is the whole published cost of a cross-district hop, and it is why the fare surprises visitors in the other direction. What would push it up is time rather than distance: below 12 km/h the meter adds 2 km of the rate every 5 minutes in the peaks, and a ride between 23:00 and 05:00 is billed 20% more.

Why is my Beijing taxi fare higher than that calculation?

Almost always one of four published rules rather than a driver improvising. The low-speed rule bills 2 km of the rate every 5 minutes below 12 km/h during the 07:00–09:00 and 17:00–19:00 peaks and 1 km every 5 minutes otherwise, so time in traffic is charged as distance. From 23:00 to 05:00 the base rate rises 20%. A booking adds ¥6 or ¥5. Road and bridge tolls are yours on top of the meter. Beyond 15 km one-way the base rate climbs 50%. Each of those is in the table above with its clause number, so you can check which one applied. If none of them explains the number, the complaint lines are 12328 for service and 12345 for price.

Is the Beijing metro cheaper than a taxi for the same 10 km trip?

Substantially, yes, and both numbers are set by rule. A 10 km ordinary-metro ride falls in the 6–12 km band at ¥4, from the price authority's distance table under 京发改〔2014〕2526号. The same 10 km by cruising taxi works out at about ¥30 from the published tariff before any waiting time, night rate or tolls. So the metro is roughly a seventh of the fare for the distance, and it is also the one of the two that traffic cannot make more expensive. The airport-express lines are priced separately and are not part of that ¥3–¥6 distance table.