Beijing Subway started operating on Jan 15, 1971. At the beginning, when the subway had only one line, the price to ride was 1 jiao, or 0.1 yuan (1.6 US cents). The ticket price went up to 2 jiao in 1987 and 5 jiao in 1991. The annual passenger volume went down by 10 million in that year.

The biggest price increase was in 1996, when it went to 2 yuan. As a result, the number of passengers dropped by more than 100 million.

The present 2-yuan ticket was settled on in 2007, after an increase to 3 yuan in 1999.