Regulations on Urban Public Transportation — Full English Translation (2024)

Adopted at the 39th Executive Meeting of the State Council on August 19, 2024; promulgated by Decree No. 793 of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on October 17, 2024

Effective: December 1, 2024

Table of Contents

Chapter I — General Provisions

Article 1 — These Regulations are formulated to promote the high-quality development of urban public transportation, improve the service level of urban public transportation, ensure the safety of urban public transportation, better meet the basic travel needs of the public, and promote urban modernization.

Article 2 — For the purposes of these Regulations, “urban public transportation” means the provision of basic travel services to the public, within the areas determined by the people’s governments of cities, by operating public transport vehicles such as public buses, trolleybuses and urban rail transit vehicles and the relevant systems and facilities in accordance with the approved routes, stops, times and fares.

Article 3 — The state implements the development strategy of giving priority to urban public transportation, comprehensively adopts measures in planning, land, finance and other respects to guarantee the development of urban public transportation, and enhances the competitiveness and attractiveness of urban public transportation.
The state encourages and guides the public to give priority to choosing public transportation as a motorized travel mode.

Article 4 — Urban public transportation work shall adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhere to a people-centered approach, adhere to the public-welfare nature of urban public transportation, implement the development strategy of giving priority to urban public transportation, and build a safe, convenient, efficient, green and economical urban public transportation system.

Article 5 — The people’s governments of cities are the responsible subjects for developing urban public transportation.
The people’s governments of cities shall strengthen the organizational leadership of urban public transportation work, implement safeguard measures for the development of urban public transportation, strengthen the supervision and administration of urban public transportation safety, and make overall arrangements for studying and coordinating the resolution of major issues in urban public transportation work.
The urban public transportation authority of the State Council, other relevant authorities and the people’s governments of provinces and autonomous regions shall strengthen guidance for urban public transportation work.

Article 6 — The people’s governments of cities shall, in light of the actual circumstances and characteristics such as the functional positioning, scale, spatial layout, development goals and public travel needs of the cities, and in coordination with urban land and space use, make overall arrangements for various modes of transportation, scientifically determine the development goals and development models of urban public transportation, and promote the increase of the share of urban public transportation in motorized travel.

Article 7 — Enterprises undertaking urban public transportation operation services (hereinafter referred to as “urban public transportation enterprises”) shall be determined in accordance with law by the people’s governments of cities or their urban public transportation authorities.

Article 8 — The state encourages and supports the popularization and application of new technologies, new energy and new equipment in urban public transportation systems, improves the informatization and intelligentization level of urban public transportation, promotes the green and low-carbon transformation of urban public transportation, and improves operational efficiency and management level.

Chapter II — Development Guarantees

Article 9 — Urban comprehensive transportation system planning shall clearly define the principle of giving priority to the development of public transportation, make overall arrangements for the construction of urban transportation infrastructure, rationally allocate and utilize various transportation resources, and strengthen the linkage and coordination of various modes of transportation. The people’s governments of cities shall organize the formulation of urban public transportation planning in light of actual circumstances and needs.
Cities constructing urban rail transit systems shall formulate urban rail transit line network plans and construction plans in accordance with the relevant state provisions.
Urban comprehensive transportation system planning, urban public transportation planning, urban rail transit line network plans and construction plans shall be linked with territorial space planning, and the reasonable needs involving land and space use shall be incorporated into the territorial space planning implementation supervision system for overall guarantee.

Article 10 — The relevant departments of the people’s governments of cities shall, in accordance with the relevant plans and the development of cities and public travel needs, reasonably determine urban public transportation routes and lay out facilities such as public transportation stations, so as to improve the coverage rate of public transportation.
The people’s governments of cities shall organize the relevant departments to conduct public travel surveys as the basis for optimizing urban public transportation routes and station layouts.

Article 11 — For large construction projects such as newly built, reconstructed or expanded residential areas, transportation hubs, schools, hospitals, stadiums and commercial centers, the needs of public transportation travel shall be comprehensively considered; where the approval or verification documents of the construction projects require the supporting construction of urban public transportation infrastructure, the construction units shall construct the relevant facilities in accordance with the requirements and put them into use simultaneously.
The construction of urban public transportation infrastructure shall comply with the requirements of barrier-free environment construction and be combined with aging-friendly renovation.

Article 12 — The people’s governments of cities shall guarantee the land for urban public transportation infrastructure in accordance with law. Where the land for urban public transportation infrastructure meets the prescribed conditions, it may be supplied by allocation or negotiated transfer.
Under the premise of conforming to territorial space planning and use control requirements and not affecting the function and scale of urban public transportation, comprehensive development may be implemented on the land for urban public transportation infrastructure in accordance with the relevant state provisions to support the development of urban public transportation.

Article 13 — The people’s governments of cities shall arrange the funds needed for the development of urban public transportation in light of the actual situation of urban public transportation and their fiscal capacity, and include them in their budgets at the same level.
The state encourages and guides financial institutions to provide financial services commensurate with the development of urban public transportation, and increases financing support for the development of urban public transportation.
The state encourages and supports social capital to participate in the construction and operation of urban public transportation infrastructure in accordance with law, and protects its lawful rights and interests.

Article 14 — Urban public transportation fares shall be subject to government pricing or government guidance pricing in accordance with law, and a dynamic adjustment mechanism shall be established. The establishment of a multi-level and differentiated urban public transportation fare system is encouraged in light of factors such as the service quality of urban public transportation, transport distance and transfer modes.
In formulating and adjusting urban public transportation fares, factors such as enterprise operating costs, social affordability and the supply-demand situation of transportation shall be comprehensively considered, and procedures such as pricing cost supervision and review shall be performed in accordance with law.

Article 15 — On the premise of guaranteeing the basic travel of the public, urban public transportation enterprises may carry out customized travel service business. Customized travel service business may be subject to market-regulated pricing.

Article 16 — The people’s governments of cities shall organize the relevant departments to, on the basis of conducting operational service quality evaluation of urban public transportation enterprises and reviewing their annual cost and expense accounting reports, comprehensively consider factors such as fiscal capacity and the space for enterprises to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and promptly give subsidies and compensation in accordance with provisions.

Article 17 — The people’s governments of cities may, in light of actual circumstances and needs and in accordance with the principles of balancing public transportation efficiency and overall transportation efficiency and the intensive use of urban road resources, set up dedicated public transportation lanes and implement scientific management and dynamic adjustment.

Chapter III — Operation Services

Article 18 — The urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall, by signing operation service agreements with urban public transportation enterprises and other means, clarify matters such as the service standards, norms and requirements for urban public transportation operation and the evaluation of operation service quality.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall comply with the service standards, norms and requirements for urban public transportation operation, strengthen internal management, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of operation services.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall not transfer, lease or disguisedly transfer or lease the urban public transportation routes they operate to others for operation.

Article 19 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall equip urban public transportation vehicles in accordance with the operation service agreements or the requirements of the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities, and set up vehicle operation service signs in accordance with provisions.

Article 20 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall, through means convenient for the public to know, promptly publicize information such as operation routes, stops, operation hours, departure intervals and fares. Urban public transportation enterprises are encouraged to provide the public with information inquiry services through information technology means such as electronic station boards and travel information service systems.

Article 21 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall strengthen operation dispatching management and improve operation punctuality and operation efficiency on the premise of ensuring safety.

Article 22 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall not change operation routes, stops or operation hours or interrupt operation services without authorization; where operation routes, stops or operation hours need to be temporarily changed or operation services temporarily interrupted due to special reasons, except for taking emergency measures in the event of emergencies or to ensure operation safety, the public shall be notified in advance and the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall be reported.

Article 23 — Where large-scale mass activities and other circumstances cause concentrated public transportation passenger flow and normal operation service arrangements cannot meet the demand, urban public transportation enterprises shall, in accordance with the requirements of the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities, promptly take measures such as adding temporary trips, shortening departure intervals and extending operation hours to ensure operation services.

Article 24 — Passengers shall pay fares in accordance with the fares; where passengers refuse to pay fares, urban public transportation enterprises may refuse their entry into stations and boarding of vehicles.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall, in accordance with laws, regulations and the relevant state provisions, provide convenience and preferential treatment to relevant groups in taking public transportation.

Article 25 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall establish an operation service quality complaint handling mechanism and make it public to society, promptly and properly handle complaints raised by passengers, and give feedback to passengers on the handling results; where passengers are dissatisfied with the handling results, they may appeal to the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities, which shall promptly give a reply. Passengers may also directly complain to the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities about operation service quality issues.

Article 26 — The urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall regularly organize the evaluation of the operation service quality of urban public transportation enterprises and make the evaluation results public to society.

Article 27 — Without the consent of the people’s governments of cities, urban public transportation enterprises shall not terminate operation services; where operation services are terminated due to bankruptcy or dissolution, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall be reported 30 days in advance, and the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall promptly take measures such as designating temporary operation service enterprises and allocating operation vehicles to ensure that operation services are not interrupted; where the enterprises undertaking urban public transportation operation services need to be re-determined, the people’s governments of cities or their urban public transportation authorities shall promptly determine them in accordance with provisions.

Chapter IV — Safety Management

Article 28 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall comply with the laws, regulations and standards concerning work safety, implement the responsibility of all employees for work safety, establish and improve work safety management systems and work safety responsibility systems, guarantee safety funding input, build a dual prevention mechanism of hierarchical management and control of safety risks and investigation and rectification of hidden dangers, and enhance the ability to prevent and respond to emergencies.

Article 29 — The survey, design, construction and supervision of urban public transportation construction projects shall comply with the laws, regulations and standards concerning construction project management.
Facilities of urban public transportation construction projects involving public safety shall be planned, constructed and put into use simultaneously with the main works.

Article 30 — Vehicles put into operation by urban public transportation enterprises shall pass inspection in accordance with law, and be equipped with safety equipment such as fire extinguishers and safety hammers as well as safety isolation, emergency alarm and emergency door opening equipment in accordance with the relevant national standards, and set up conspicuous safety warning signs.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall maintain and service vehicles and the relevant systems, facilities and equipment in accordance with the relevant national standards to ensure good performance and safe operation.
Where advertisements are set up using urban public transportation vehicles, facilities or equipment, the laws and regulations concerning advertisement management shall be complied with, and the operation safety of urban public transportation shall not be affected.

Article 31 — Key post personnel of urban public transportation enterprises who are directly involved in operation safety, such as drivers, conductors, dispatchers, duty personnel, signal workers and communication workers (hereinafter collectively referred to as “key post personnel”), shall meet the following conditions:
(1) having the ability to perform their post duties;
(2) having no disease that may endanger operation safety;
(3) having no record of violent crimes or drug abuse;
(4) other conditions prescribed by the urban public transportation authority of the State Council.
In addition to meeting the conditions prescribed in the preceding paragraph, urban bus and trolleybus drivers shall also obtain the motor vehicle driver’s license for the corresponding permitted vehicle type, and urban rail transit train drivers shall also obtain the corresponding vocational access qualification in accordance with the relevant state provisions.

Article 32 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall regularly conduct training and assessment of key post personnel on post duties, operating procedures, service norms, safety prevention and basic emergency response knowledge, and only those who pass the assessment may take up their posts. The training and assessment shall be documented and kept for inspection.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall pay attention to the physical and psychological conditions and behavior habits of key post personnel, regularly organize physical examinations for key post personnel, strengthen psychological counseling, and promptly take effective measures to prevent operation safety accidents caused by abnormal physical or psychological conditions or behavior of key post personnel.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall reasonably arrange the working hours of drivers to prevent fatigued driving.

Article 33 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall, in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, implement safety prevention responsibilities such as conducting safety background checks on relevant personnel and equipping security personnel and corresponding facilities and equipment.

Article 34 — Urban public transportation enterprises shall strengthen routine monitoring of passenger flow conditions; where a large backlog of passenger flow occurs or may occur, they shall promptly take evacuation measures, and may take measures such as temporarily restricting passenger flow or temporarily closing stations when necessary to ensure operation safety.
Where operation safety is endangered due to emergencies or facility and equipment failures, urban public transportation enterprises may suspend operation services on some sections or the entire line network, and do a good job of passenger evacuation and on-site order maintenance. Passengers shall evacuate in an orderly manner in accordance with the command and guidance of the staff of urban public transportation enterprises.

Article 35 — Passengers shall comply with riding norms and maintain riding order.
Passengers shall not carry flammable, explosive, toxic, radioactive, corrosive and other dangerous articles that may endanger personal and property safety into stations and vehicles; where passengers insist on carrying them, urban public transportation enterprises shall refuse their entry into stations and boarding of vehicles.
Urban rail transit operating units shall, in accordance with the relevant state provisions, conduct safety inspections of persons entering urban rail transit stations and the articles they carry; those who refuse to accept safety inspections shall be refused entry into stations and boarding of vehicles. Safety inspections shall comply with the relevant operating norms to improve quality and efficiency.

Article 36 — No unit or individual may commit any of the following acts endangering the operation safety of urban public transportation:
(1) illegally intercepting or forcibly boarding or alighting from urban public transportation vehicles;
(2) illegally occupying urban public transportation stations or entrances and exits;
(3) entering urban rail transit lines, vehicle bases, control centers, train cabs or other areas that non-staff are prohibited from entering without authorization;
(4) throwing articles at urban public transportation vehicles or placing obstacles on urban rail transit lines;
(5) intentionally damaging or moving or covering urban public transportation station signs, safety warning signs, monitoring equipment or safety protection equipment without authorization;
(6) operating safety equipment with safety warning signs without authorization in non-emergency situations;
(7) interfering with or obstructing the safe driving of urban public transportation vehicle drivers;
(8) other acts endangering the operation safety of urban public transportation.
Where urban public transportation enterprises discover the acts prescribed in the preceding paragraph, they shall promptly stop them, take measures to eliminate hidden dangers, and report to the relevant departments for handling in accordance with law when necessary.

Article 37 — The relevant departments of the people’s governments of cities shall, in accordance with the division of duties, strengthen the supervision and administration of urban public transportation operation safety and establish a coordination mechanism for urban public transportation operation safety work.

Article 38 — The urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall, together with the relevant departments, formulate urban public transportation emergency plans and submit them to the people’s governments of cities for approval.
Urban public transportation enterprises shall, in accordance with the urban public transportation emergency plans, formulate their own emergency plans, file them with the urban public transportation authorities and emergency management departments of the people’s governments of cities, and regularly organize drills.
The people’s governments of cities shall strengthen the construction of urban public transportation emergency response capabilities, organize the relevant departments, urban public transportation enterprises and other relevant units to jointly carry out urban public transportation emergency response drills, and improve the ability to respond to emergencies.

Article 39 — The people’s governments of cities shall improve the information sharing mechanism between the relevant departments and urban public transportation enterprises. The urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities and urban public transportation enterprises shall strengthen communication with the relevant departments, promptly grasp information that may affect the operation safety of urban public transportation in meteorology, natural disasters, public security and other respects, and take targeted safety prevention measures. The relevant departments shall provide support and cooperation.

Article 40 — The people’s governments of cities shall incorporate urban rail transit into urban disaster prevention and reduction planning, improve the design and demonstration of urban rail transit against flooding, fire, ice and snow, lightning and storms, and improve the disaster prevention and response capabilities of urban rail transit.

Article 41 — Urban rail transit construction units organizing the formulation of feasibility study reports and preliminary design documents for urban rail transit construction projects shall implement the relevant national requirements on public safety and operation services.

Article 42 — After urban rail transit construction projects pass acceptance in accordance with law, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall organize pre-operation safety assessment, and operation may commence only after passing the safety assessment. Urban rail transit construction units and operating units shall handle the construction and operation handover procedures in accordance with the relevant state provisions.
The administrative measures for the acceptance of urban rail transit construction projects and the handover of construction and operation shall be formulated by the housing and urban-rural development authority of the State Council together with the urban public transportation authority of the State Council.

Article 43 — The people’s governments of cities shall organize the relevant departments to delineate safety protection zones for urban rail transit lines and formulate safety protection zone management systems.
Operations conducted within the safety protection zones of urban rail transit lines shall obtain the consent of the urban rail transit operating units. Operation units shall formulate and implement safety protection schemes, dynamically monitor the areas affected by operations during the operation process, and promptly discover and eliminate hidden dangers. Urban rail transit operating units may enter the operation sites for inspection, and where they discover that operations endanger or may endanger the operation safety of urban rail transit, they shall require the operation units to take measures to eliminate hidden dangers or stop operations.

Article 44 — The urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall regularly organize third-party assessments of urban rail transit operation safety, and urge operating units to promptly discover and eliminate hidden dangers.

Chapter V — Legal Liability

Article 45 — Where units or individuals other than urban public transportation enterprises engage in urban public transportation route operation without authorization, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order them to stop operation, confiscate their illegal gains, and impose a fine of not less than one time and not more than five times the illegal gains; where there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 10,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan and not more than 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.
Where urban public transportation enterprises transfer, lease or disguisedly transfer or lease the urban public transportation routes they operate to others for operation, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction and impose penalties in accordance with the preceding paragraph.

Article 46 — Where urban public transportation enterprises commit any of the following acts, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction; where correction is refused, a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan and not more than 50,000 yuan shall be imposed:
(1) failing to comply with the service standards, norms and requirements for urban public transportation operation;
(2) failing to equip urban public transportation vehicles or set up vehicle operation service signs in accordance with provisions;
(3) failing to publicize information such as operation routes, stops, operation hours, departure intervals and fares.

Article 47 — Where urban public transportation enterprises change operation routes, stops or operation hours without authorization, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction; where correction is refused, a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan and not more than 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.
Where urban public transportation enterprises interrupt operation services without authorization, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction; where correction is refused, a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan shall be imposed.
Where urban public transportation enterprises change operation routes, stops or operation hours or temporarily interrupt operation services due to special reasons but fail to notify the public and report to the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities in accordance with provisions, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction and may impose a fine of not more than 10,000 yuan.

Article 48 — Where urban public transportation enterprises, in violation of these Regulations, terminate operation services without the consent of the people’s governments of cities, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction; where correction is refused, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan and not more than 500,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 49 — Where urban public transportation enterprises commit any of the following acts, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction and may impose a fine of not more than 50,000 yuan; where there are illegal gains, the illegal gains shall be confiscated; where correction is refused, a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan shall be imposed:
(1) setting up advertisements using urban public transportation vehicles or facilities and equipment, affecting the operation safety of urban public transportation;
(2) key post personnel failing to meet the prescribed conditions, or failing to train and assess key post personnel in accordance with provisions, or arranging key post personnel who fail the assessment to take up their posts.

Article 50 — Where units conducting operations within the safety protection zones of urban rail transit lines commit any of the following acts, the urban public transportation authorities of the people’s governments of cities shall order correction, temporarily stop operations, and may impose a fine of not more than 50,000 yuan; where correction is refused, they shall be ordered to stop operations and a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan shall be imposed; where damage to urban rail transit facilities is caused or operation safety is affected, a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan and not more than 1 million yuan shall be imposed concurrently:
(1) conducting operations without obtaining the consent of the urban rail transit operating unit;
(2) failing to formulate and implement safety protection schemes;
(3) failing to dynamically monitor the areas affected by operations during the operation process or failing to promptly eliminate discovered hidden dangers.

Article 51 — Where staff members of the people’s governments of cities and their urban public transportation authorities and other relevant departments abuse their power, neglect their duties or practice favoritism and fraud in urban public transportation work, sanctions shall be imposed in accordance with law.

Article 52 — Where a violation of these Regulations constitutes a violation of public security administration, public security administrative penalties shall be imposed by the public security organs in accordance with law; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law.

Chapter VI — Supplementary Provisions

Article 53 — Urban ferries used for public transportation services shall be governed by reference to the relevant provisions of these Regulations.

Article 54 — The people’s governments of cities shall, in accordance with the needs of urban-rural integration and coordinated regional development, make overall arrangements to promote the integrated development of public transportation between urban and rural areas and between regions.

Article 55 — These Regulations shall take effect on December 1, 2024.