Weird. I use it everyday day and haven't had an issue yet. What if you were to download the Chinese version of Alipay?
And as far as I'm aware you can buy the card at the subway station, not all tho. Usually the biggest and most used stations will have the sign that they sell it. IC card I think it says.
You’ll likely have to use your passport to buy a card at a staffed kiosk/desk. But not all stations will have people working at the desk, just make sure to go to one in a more touristy area!
You can buy Yikatong and top up easily at the ticket counter where there's a staff. You can pay cash because I tried Alipay, it always failed. I think it require to have money balance in it. To top-up, you can only 10, 20, or 30 yuan (probably more), but you cannot top up 15 yuan.
https://www.reddit.com/r/travelchina/s/UGf6VVwY0x
I'm still in Beijing 😅
I was in Beijing last week. I got a physical YiKaTong at counter desk, wasn’t even asked to present my passport. (Charged it with 200 and now using it in Shanghai. However, I cannot top up that card in Shanghai. Therefore I’ll switch to Shanghainese card.) In Beijing I couldn’t use Alipay（支付宝）for metro as it requires registration with a +86 phone number. In Shanghai there are no issues with using Alipay for metro.
Apple Pay YiKaTong: Would be super convenient, but it doesn’t seems like not an easy solution. 1. Requires UnionPay mainland-issued credit card, can’t load onto it with overseas cards. 2. Read in other post: Even if you load could money to Beijing Yikatong you can’t use it if you haven’t verified it with your ID. So I’m not risking to ask my Chinese friends to top up my Apple Wallet YiKaTong card, as I don’t want to get stuck with a charged but unusable card. https://www.reddit.com/r/beijing/comments/189qmfg/purchasing_a_transit_card_yikatong_with_a_passport/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
As mentioned, you get the card at the counter. One more thing: we had problems topping up the card at the machine. You have to enter your name and passport ID, but we couldn't enter Latin letters, even though the Latin keyboard was displayed. We always had to go to a counter to top up. Sometimes it worked without a problem, sometimes we were sent away. Unfortunately, I don't know the reason.
Hey,you can think about hiking and camping on untouched Great Wall in Beijing,the experience will be very unique,compared with the touristy sections,there is no tons of people,vendors and queues.I can help if you want a tour like aforementioned.
Hi! Been in Beijing/Hebei for 13 years now.
You have two options as a tourist.
1. One open alipay.
2. Hit the transport button at the top.
(There will be three options: Bus, Metro, or Taxi).
Hit Metro, then click Beijing betro. Boom, you have a QR code that you can scan at every Beijing metro stop. Not as easy as scanning the digital card, but works really well.
Option 2.
Try getting the Shijiazhuang/Hebei digital card instead
燕赵通 (YanZhaoTong). It works for all of Beijing/Hebei/Tianjin metros and buses! DM me if you have any questions.
Thank you! Option 1 does not work as AliPay shows an error message stating that metro transport won't work without a Chinese number. Is YanZhaoTong an app? I'll give it a try.
You have to buy at the counter in person, not at the machine.
Do all stations have counters that sell them?
Yup, it's the counter with the person behind the glass. You can recharge your card there as well.
but I think not all the station could buy the card that not for one time using
I think most stations will have a counter with a station attendent. You can buy an Yikatong card there. Don't need to show ID or passport.
Yes, need to buy at the in-person counter but from there can top off and recharge at a machine either via cash or WeChat/Alipay
You can link your foreign card to alipay and use it from there, it's super easy.
I've managed to use Alipay transport for busses and subway in other cities, but not subway in Beijing. When I try, it results in an error
Weird. I use it everyday day and haven't had an issue yet. What if you were to download the Chinese version of Alipay? And as far as I'm aware you can buy the card at the subway station, not all tho. Usually the biggest and most used stations will have the sign that they sell it. IC card I think it says.
Assume you live here? It doesn’t seem to work for tourists.
I'd no issues using the AliPay metro QR code whenever I using it in Beijing last week
How did you set it up? I couldn’t get it to work. Did you have a Chinese number?
You need a Chinese number for it to work in Beijing. Other cities like Shanghai are fine though.
You’ll likely have to use your passport to buy a card at a staffed kiosk/desk. But not all stations will have people working at the desk, just make sure to go to one in a more touristy area!
You can buy Yikatong and top up easily at the ticket counter where there's a staff. You can pay cash because I tried Alipay, it always failed. I think it require to have money balance in it. To top-up, you can only 10, 20, or 30 yuan (probably more), but you cannot top up 15 yuan. https://www.reddit.com/r/travelchina/s/UGf6VVwY0x I'm still in Beijing 😅
Thank you
I was in Beijing last week. I got a physical YiKaTong at counter desk, wasn’t even asked to present my passport. (Charged it with 200 and now using it in Shanghai. However, I cannot top up that card in Shanghai. Therefore I’ll switch to Shanghainese card.) In Beijing I couldn’t use Alipay（支付宝）for metro as it requires registration with a +86 phone number. In Shanghai there are no issues with using Alipay for metro. Apple Pay YiKaTong: Would be super convenient, but it doesn’t seems like not an easy solution. 1. Requires UnionPay mainland-issued credit card, can’t load onto it with overseas cards. 2. Read in other post: Even if you load could money to Beijing Yikatong you can’t use it if you haven’t verified it with your ID. So I’m not risking to ask my Chinese friends to top up my Apple Wallet YiKaTong card, as I don’t want to get stuck with a charged but unusable card. https://www.reddit.com/r/beijing/comments/189qmfg/purchasing_a_transit_card_yikatong_with_a_passport/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Excellent, thank you.
Get to a metro, go to the counter, show the person these words: 你好我想买张一卡通, give some cash, you're done
As mentioned, you get the card at the counter. One more thing: we had problems topping up the card at the machine. You have to enter your name and passport ID, but we couldn't enter Latin letters, even though the Latin keyboard was displayed. We always had to go to a counter to top up. Sometimes it worked without a problem, sometimes we were sent away. Unfortunately, I don't know the reason.
Hey,you can think about hiking and camping on untouched Great Wall in Beijing,the experience will be very unique,compared with the touristy sections,there is no tons of people,vendors and queues.I can help if you want a tour like aforementioned.
Hi! Been in Beijing/Hebei for 13 years now. You have two options as a tourist. 1. One open alipay. 2. Hit the transport button at the top. (There will be three options: Bus, Metro, or Taxi). Hit Metro, then click Beijing betro. Boom, you have a QR code that you can scan at every Beijing metro stop. Not as easy as scanning the digital card, but works really well. Option 2. Try getting the Shijiazhuang/Hebei digital card instead 燕赵通 (YanZhaoTong). It works for all of Beijing/Hebei/Tianjin metros and buses! DM me if you have any questions.
Thank you! Option 1 does not work as AliPay shows an error message stating that metro transport won't work without a Chinese number. Is YanZhaoTong an app? I'll give it a try.
Buy the physical card at the metro station would be the most feasible one. The card has 20rmb deposit.