The public transport in Beijing began in early 20s last century and has had so far 80 years history of development. From 1921 through 1949, the public transport in Beijing had experienced the periods of establishment, development and decline.

In 1921, the Northern Government established the Beijing trolley company ,and on Dec.18, 1924, the first trolley bus route was put into formal operation. The route was 9 km long with 10 trolleys operational. There were 96 trolleys in 1935. In 1935, the Beiping Municipal Government of the time set up the Beiping Bus Preparation Committee, purchased 30 buses and opened the first bus route in Aug. of the same year.

After the "July 7 Incident of 1937", the buses in Beiping had for a time all stopped operating, leaving only 37 buses by 1939. The number of buses had reached 67 in 1941. In June, 1942, the daily volume of passage transport had reached 129,000 person-time. In 1943 the trolley company had 144 trolleys operating in 7 routes , which total length had reached 46,65 km.

After the Anti-Japanese War, Beiping Government took over 100 buses once controlled by the Japanese and puppet government. In Nov, 1947, the Beiping Municipal Bus Co. Ltd, with 133 buses registered, was founded. The bad management resulted in the heavy loses and caused the operation closed down in Aug, 1948 , leaving 79 beat up buses , of which only 5 could operate.

From 1945 to 1949, before the eve of the liberation of Beiping, the trolley company had neither increased any new trolley nor any new route. In 1947, the daily trolley dispatching was only 82 times, with daily person-time 60,000 to 70,000. By1948£¬ the daily trolley dispatching decreased to 20 to 30 times with 141 trolleys registered , of which ,only 49 could be operational. At the end of 1946, Beiping had 20 long distance buses with 15 routes. In 1948, the long distance buses all stopped running due to the war chaos and bad management.

Though the public transport was established for the first time in Beijing during this period , it declined and went bankrupt in 1948 after the endless tribulation due to the exploitation of the western capitalism and bureaucratic capitalists, corruption of Northern warlords and Guomingtang government as well as successive war chaos.

The public transport has undergone the development of 4 phases since the founding of New China:

The period from the liberation of Beiping to Oct. 1956 is the period of recovery with intensive and pioneering effort.

When the P.L.A entered and garrisoned Beiping at the end of 1949, there were only 103 trolleys with 7 operating routes, and 61 buses with 4 operating routes, the total annual passenger transport volume for both buses and trolleys was 28.85 millions person-times. By end of 1956, the routes for buses and trolleys increased to 27 , an increase of 5.8 times in comparison to that of 1949. The total route length opened was 357 km, an increase of nearly 10 times in comparison to that of 1949. The total annual passenger transport volume was 235.4 millions person-times, an increase of 205 times in comparison to that of 1949.

The Beijing public transport has begun its comprehensive development during the period from the successful trial manufacture of the first trolleybus in 1956 to the haul-up of the last trolley on May 6, 1966.

From 1956 to end of the 1966, the public transport routes in Beijing had increased to 65 from its original 27 , an increase of 2.4 times . the vehicles in operation had increased to 1125 from the original ? , in creased of 1.6 times. The passenger transport volume has increased to 510 million person-times , an increase of 1.2 times. From the time the first trolley bus route between Fuchengmen and Beichizi was put into operation to 1966, the trolley bus routes had increased to 15 with total length reaching 168 km and 440 vehicles in operation. The annual passenger transport volume at that time had reached 340 million person-times. From the time the Beijing long distance bus company was founded to the year of 1959, the long distance buses increased to 114 vehicles with total routes in operation reaching 54 and annual passenger transport volume reaching 969 million person-times.

The period from 1966 through 1984 is the time of sustainable development of the integrative transport system of Beijing public transport.

The number of bus increased yearly. There were 1123 In 1966, 1954 in 1976, 3369 in 1984, the total increase within 18 years was 2244, an yearly increase of 125 on average.

The network of routes in operation continued to increase: there were 64 routes in 1965, 96 in 1975 and 150 in 1985. The routes in suburban areas had surpassed that of the urban area, express buses and night bus had formed a network, thus to establish a transport system of combining the express buses with slow buses, and the buses operating at the day time with night buses. The long distance buses also began to expand in 1966. There were 364 buses in 1976, an increased of 1.6 times and then increased to 643 in 1985 . The routes increased to 136 and had reached 245 in 1985, achieving the goal of public transport available for all villages.

To accommodate to the new situation of the integrative structural development of Beijing public transport, the Public Transport Bureau was changed to the Head office of the Public Transport. The public transport in Beijing hence quickened up its steps of reformation and set up separate professions in transport and maintenance, in 1988 making the transport operation and maintenance professionalized and regionalized.

During this period , the number of vehicles and routes of Beijing public transport has increased steadily and rapidly. By end of 1995, the number of vehicles in operation reached 3927, an increase of 558 compared with that in 1984; the routes in operation were 246, an increase of 101 more than that of 1984, an 69.66% increase . The volume of passenger transport reached 3.11 billions , an increased of 2.93 times than that of 1984 which was 1.61billions. The number of trolley bus reached 525 by end of 1995.

Meanwhile , to meet the requirement of sight seeing and the development of the Beijing city, the route for the double-decker bus " special route 1 " was opened in early 90s between Gongzhufen and Bawangfen, adding a new scenery to the city. By end of 1995, in addition to the 7 newly opened routes of double-decker bus with sign of " special route xx", 18 other special routes with sign of " touring route xx" connecting directly with all the touring places in the outskirts of Beijing had opened in succession, which greatly convenienced the tourists at home and abroad.

Since 1994, the Head office of Beijing Public Transport has entered a new stage of rapid development. During the period of 6 years before 2000, the total number of bus in operation has increased to 15445 from its original number of 7819, an increase of 97.53%; the routes in operation has increased to 701 from original 517, an increase of 35.59%; the annual passenger transport volume has increased to 3.8 billions person-times from its original 3.0 billions, an increase of 26.67%; the total value of the enterprise asset has increased to 7.095 billions Yuan from its original 2.153 billion Yuan, an increase of 23% and the net value of the asset has increased to 4.219 billion Yuan from original 1.087Yuan , an increase of 288%.

In 1999, to accelerate the campaign of clean fuel utilization, the Head office of the public transport purchased 2283 buses driven by clean fuel, of which, 300 buses equipped with the U.S. Kangmingsi pure natural gas engines have replace 236 diesel engine buses running in Changan Street and trunk routes in the Second Ring . By end of 2000, the total number of the buses of clean fuel of the Head office shall reach 5923, accounting for 78.9% of the total buses, of which, the number of buses using pure natural gas shall be 1300. By then , Beijing will be the city in the world with the most natural- gas- driven buses.

On the eve of the new century , the Head office of Beijing Public Transport, with an eye to the development of the world public transport and based on the standard of the modern public transport in international metropolises, is working hard to achieve the realization of the new concept , new system and new technology for the making of the 10th five-year development plan. Taking development as the motive, and science and technology as the impetus , we are determined to unite and lead the 100,000 staff of the Beijing Public Transport to build the public transport in the capital into a modern one, and to step into the 21st century with a new look and great progress.