When you arrive in Beijing it is advisable that one of your first purchases in town is a Beijing yikatong. The Yikatong –admittedly not a particularly catchy name for those that don’t speak mandarin- pronounced ‘eee kah tong’ is a boon for Beijing visitors and has been for the last decade. The yikatong is a multipurpose transport card which can be purchased for a deposit of 20RMB. Anyone that is familiar with Londons oyster cards, and the Octopus cards of Hong Kong

The basic premise of the card is that users of public transport, including airport express and taxis -more about that later. Users can swipe themselves into public transport, rather than battling with sometimes temperamental ticket machines which insist on only the freshest most creaseless bank notes of a limited number of denominations, or fiddling with small change to give to a bus conductor all the way across at the other end of a crowded rush hour bus.

The cards can be purchased in most kiosks at subway stations, however they can only be returned for deposit at Fuxingmen subway station. Users of Beijing’s expansive, clean and well run subway system can save themselves lots of time by using the card and bus users can even save a little money to, as bus fares are discounted when an Yikatong is used- though please remember that you need to swipe both in and out of the bus if you are using the card on a bus or tram. Many taxis- though not all- also offer the facility for passengers to pay by card. The availability of this facility is often signalled by an Yikatong logo sticker on the dashboard of the car. If you wish to use the card for taxis first ask the driver, he may be a little reluctant to accept the card but is legally obliged to do so if his car has a swipe machine. You should then present the card to drivers for swiping at the end of the journey just before they switch the meter off . The beauty of this card is that you need not worry about the taxi driver having to sufficient change and that you also eliminate the potential of falling prey to unscrupulous taxi drivers trying to palm off counterfeit bank notes.

Other uses of the Yikatong include paying for public bicycles and payment at stores. Certain fast food restaurants use the card as a method for payment. The store which has most broadly embraced usage of the Yitongka is the western convenience store 7-11 which has dozens of branches all across the city.