Suzhou (苏州) is a beautiful city located in the Jiangsu province of China. There is a lot to write about this city, and in this post I will share details about the Suzhou public transportation system, mostly about the bus and subway systems. You’ll also get to know a funny and probably the best way to learn Mandarin. I’m also including a basic list of Mandarin words that are extensively used by Suzhou tourism (and elsewhere in China). 🙂
Related post – Living in Suzhou.
Best way to learn Mandarin
The best way to learn Mandarin is to live in China and immerse yourself in the Chinese language learning. I have prepared a list of public transportation related Mandarin terms for you to learn the Chinese language. These terms are extensively used by Suzhou Public Transportation System. Please refer to the last section of the article.
Buy Suzhou bus/subway smart card
The Bus/Subway smart card in Mandarin its known as known Suzhou-tong (苏州通). You can easily buy the card at the Suzhou subway stations using the vending machine.
Ask someone for help if you don’t know how to buy it. The initial cost is RMB 36, and you don’t get any stored value for this price. You’ll need to top up the Suzhou-tong card for further usage.
Please note that 1USD = ~ RMB 6.9.
Understand Suzhou Bus fares
The bus fares in Suzhou vary from month to month. It’s interesting to know that in the month of November, when its autumn, the Air-conditioners are switched off, and so the fares are low (RMB 1). In January, its winter and the Air-conditioners are on, so the fare is higher (RMB 2). These fares are fixed irrespective of how many stops you may prefer to go. If you pay fares using the Suzhou-tong card, you get a 40% discount. So in November you’d pay RMB 0.6, and in January its RMB 1.4.
Related post- How to Buy a Chinese Card to Visit Suzhou China Garden for Free.
Suzhou Subway fares
The fare for a Suzhou subway ride is calculated based on the distance you travel. However, for RMB 4 you could virtually cover some 15-20 stations. If you pay the fare by Suzhou-tong card, you get a 5% discount on your total fare.
Related post- Suzhou Industrial Park – a Flower Garden in Suzhou China.
The bus and subway fares are not linked (unlike in Singapore), and you’d pay each time you get into the bus/subway.
Suzhou Subway lines
As of now there are the only three subway lines (Line number 1, 2 and 4) operating in Suzhou. There will be one more line coming up soon (Line 3). The word Ditie (地铁) means subway. Here is the list of lines –
- Suzhou Subway Line 1: 地铁1号线
- Subway Line 2: 地铁2号线
- Line 3: 地铁3号线
- Line 4: 地铁4号线
Understand Suzhou Bus numbers
Suzhou has so many buses running in different directions to serve the local population. How the bus numbers are written in mandarin? Well, 166路, 305路, 16路, 949路, 110路南线, 935路, 178路, 快线2号, 180路西线, 146路, 228路, 812路，etc. they are all buses.
- “路””线”，these two words all means ”line”
- “110路南线” means No.110 bus South Line, because the No.110 bus has two Lines: South Line and North Line, they go different directions. So when you take this type of bus, make sure which line is correct for you.
- “180路西线” means No.180 bus West Line, because the No.180 bus also has two lines: West Line and East Line.
- “快线2号” is also a bus, and it means Fast Line No.2. So far there are 8 fast line buses in Suzhou. These buses are numbered consecutively from 1 to 8.
Learn basic mandarin for Suzhou public transportation
Here is a compilation of some of the important words to learn mandarin. These words are heavily used by China’s public transportation systems.
Suzhou Public Transport Terms
| English | Mandarin | Pinyin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walk | 走 | Zou |
| 2 | Run | 跑 | Phao |
| 3 | All/everything | 都 | Dou |
| 4 | Ground/land | 地 | Di |
| 5 | Iron | 铁 | Tie |
| 6 | Subway | 地铁 | Ditie |
| 7 | Number/mark | 号 | Hao |
| 8 | Line/route | 线 | Xian |
| 9 | 2 Number Line | 2 号线 | 2 Hao Xian |
| 10 | Road/path/route | 路 | Lu |
| 11 | Fast | 快 | Kuai |
| 12 | Bus 166 | 166 路 | 166 Lu |
| 13 | No.110 South Line (Bus) | 110 路南线 | 110 Lu Nan Xian |
| 14 | No.110 North Line (Bus) | 110 路北线 | 110 Lu Bei Xian |
| 15 | No.180 bus West line | 180 路西线 | 180 Lu Xi Xian |
| 16 | No.180 bus East line | 180 路东线 | 180 Lu Dong Xian |
| 17 | Fast line No.2 (Express 2 bus ) | 快线 2 号 | Kuai Xian 2 Hao |
Understanding of these characters will help you explore the Suzhou tourism better.
That’s all for now about Suzhou subway and bus.
If you have any query about Suzhou, feel free to post in our forum so that others could also contribute and learn. For regular updates like us on Facebook, or follow on Twitter!
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Wishing you get time with Suzhou tourism.
Last updated: Friday, June 8, 2018