Buses are a very popular way to get around in Beijing and unlike the subway you can get pretty much anywhere by bus.

There are all kinds of buses - from new, clean, quiet, TV equipped buses to noisy, shaky over crowded buses.

The price of a ticket is between 1-3 yuan, depending on the bus class and how long your ride is. Smoking on the bus is not allowed.

Most of the buses have three doors, the middle one is for boarding and the other two are for getting off. In a two doors bus, the front door is for boarding and the back door is for getting off.

On most buses you will find one or two conductors, usually in the middle and the back of the bus. In the modern buses there is an electronic system announcing the stops and displaying the station's name.

Normally, a recorded voice tells the name of the next station in both Chinese and English. On the buses with no electronic system the conductors are in charge of announcing the stations and since there are talking fast and in Beijing dialect it's much harder to understand.

When you take the bus, the best thing to do is have the station's name written in Chinese character, you can show it to the conductors and they will tell you when to get off.

There is no bell to ring on the Chinese buses, the bus is supposed to stop in every station. Like the subway, buses are usually over crowded and it's better to get to the door in advanced.

Tips
It's better to have 1 yuan bills ready in your hand before you get on the bus, you don't want to take out your wallet/purse in the middle of a moving, crowded bus.