Finish one complete journey with the same ticket or travel method
For a first metro trip in Beijing or Shanghai, save your destination station and exit, choose a way to enter and leave, and keep a backup for before you enter. A card that buys a ticket, a bank card tapped directly at a gate and an app’s metro QR are different travel methods.
This guide covers urban metro journeys in these two cities. Source text was reviewed on 18 October 2026; no card, registration, gate or journey was tested. It is not a nationwide ticket rule or a live timetable. Use the separate Beijing airport guide or Shanghai airport guide for airport rail, maglev and the Airport Link.
Choose a method before joining the gate queue
You do not need to set up every option. Pick one you can use and retain another way to pay for a ticket if it fails before entry.
- Buy a single-journey ticket: select the destination and number of tickets at a machine, or show the Chinese destination to station ticket staff. Look for an English option and read the payment methods on that machine. Shanghai’s English guide lists overseas-card terminals at station service centres; this does not mean every vending machine accepts the same cards.
- Tap an eligible contactless bank card: use the marked card reader, without buying a separate ticket for that same journey. Beijing’s June 2025 notices and Shanghai’s guide list UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express services, with eligibility conditions. A logo alone does not confirm your issuer, particular card or phone-wallet token will work. Buying a ticket with a card is a different transaction from direct gate entry.
- Use an activated metro travel QR: choose the correct city and metro product in the app you actually use. A shop-payment code is not the travel code. Read the account and payment permissions before activating it; a working wallet payment does not establish that the transport service is ready. Keep the app, account and phone available through exit.
For these options, see Beijing’s card-service notice, its English report, and the Shanghai metro guide, whose body says updated June 2026. App identity checks, foreign numbers and card approval remain service-specific. Use the payment guide for wallet setup and backups.
For a first journey, keep the same physical card or same phone travel method until the trip is complete. Beijing’s September 2026 rules explicitly prohibit mixing a physical bank card with its phone NFC version within a journey. Its rules also contain particular same-account exceptions for other ticket products; do not use those as permission to switch arbitrary cards or codes. The Shanghai Public Transport QR FAQ requires the same app and account for that code’s entry and exit. Each paying traveller needs their own valid ticket or supported travel credential; do not pass a personal code around a group.
Save the route, including the exit
Use the map workflow to check the final visitor entrance before selecting a station. Record these fields in your own trip note:
Trip-note template — fill with your actual route
Destination in Chinese, with its street or visitor entrance
Start station and line
Direction shown on the platform, checked against the next stops
Transfer station and connecting line, if needed
Destination station, exit and final walking route
Choose a connection you can complete with your luggage, mobility and energy. A large interchange can involve walking; a destination sharing the station’s name is not necessarily at its nearest exit. If you need an elevator or step-free connection, check the actual station and final path rather than inferring accessibility from the route map.
For an evening journey, check the last useful train on every leg, not just the closing time at your starting station. This guide has not verified a last-train itinerary. If the complete connection is uncertain, leave earlier or prepare a taxi alternative.
Enter, check the direction and follow transfer signs
Follow station security and staff instructions. Before presenting your ticket or code, check that you are at the intended entrance and have the travel method ready. Present one card or ticket at the reader rather than a whole wallet; wait for the gate’s result and pass through as directed.
On the platform, match the line, direction and next stops with your saved route. If you realise you are going the wrong way, stop adding distance: check the next safe place to change direction and ask staff if the opposite platform is unclear. This is a planning approach, not a promise that every station has an internal crossover.
At an interchange, follow signs for the connecting line. Do not follow Exit / 出口 just because it appears first. If the route requires leaving the paid area, check the ticket’s rules before doing so. Shanghai’s ordinary single tickets do not cover out-of-station transfers; other products have their own conditions. Do not assume an airport or suburban connection uses the same fare product.
Keep the ticket until the exit is complete
Read the medium you were given. Gate handling differs even among single-journey tickets:
- Beijing physical single ticket: the published urban ticket rules describe tapping it on entry and inserting it for collection at the final exit. Separately purchased cross-section products can have different transfer handling; follow that product’s instructions.
- Shanghai traditional IC single ticket: the English guide says it is collected at the exit gate.
- Shanghai paper QR single ticket: scan the printed code at both entry and exit. It is not collected. Keep the code readable and do not put it into a card-return slot.
The Shanghai single tickets above are valid on the purchase date and exclude out-of-station transfers. These distinctions are supported by the English guide and Chinese district report. Beijing’s operator-published September 2026 rules describe its physical and electronic products; the rule’s scope excludes airport and tram lines.
For a bank card or phone code, use the method that recorded your entry. Keep enough phone power to display it at the destination. After leaving the paid area, check the exit number against the final walking route; an exit gate and a numbered street exit are different things.
If a gate or payment fails
Before you have entered: read the gate message and move aside to ask station staff. If no journey has started, a single ticket may be a useful alternative to an app or card that is not working. If the machine took payment but gave no ticket, retain the payment reference and machine/location details for staff; do not assume another payment resolves the first one.
After you have entered: show the original ticket, card or travel-code account and explain the station where you entered. Do not start trying unrelated cards to exit. Beijing’s rules provide ways to resolve missing records and fare adjustments; the applicable process and charge depend on the ticket and problem. The Shanghai public-transport-code FAQ describes refreshing the code or showing it to the service centre. This does not establish a universal offline, screenshot or automatic-refund remedy for every app.
If your phone dies or the code will not open: ask station staff to help establish the existing journey before changing methods. A passport, payment receipt or another person’s code should not be assumed to replace it. If you cannot complete a planned connection, resolve the gate issue first, then check another route from the station you actually reach.
Two questions to show staff — teaching examples:
我在【进站站名】进站，现在不能出站。请帮我查一下进出站记录。
I entered at [entry station] and cannot exit now. Please help check the entry and exit record.
Show the actual entry station on your saved note.
我要去这个站。请问怎么买单程票，从哪个方向坐车？
I want to go to this station. How do I buy a single ticket, and which direction should I take?
For a disputed bank transaction, keep the trip and payment records and use the station/operator and card issuer’s support for their respective parts. This guide does not promise a fare, refund amount or response time.
Use the metro workflow with your city route
In Beijing, the Line 5 approach to Temple of Heaven separates the station exit from the park gate. In Shanghai, the Line 2 approach to Museum East does the same for the museum’s visitor entrance. These are published approach examples, not tested walks or guarantees of current exit access.
Keep the Beijing three-day plan or Shanghai three-day plan flexible around the actual journey, meal breaks and attraction entry. If travelling between the cities, switch to the intercity train guide; metro travel is a different task.