A total of 164 customized bus routes were put into service on Feb. 27 in Beijing in an effort to facilitate resumption of work amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, Beijing Daily reported .

(Photo/Beijing Daily)

Passengers need to have their temperatures taken by staff members of the bus before boarding. The buses are required to fill no more than 50 percent of the seats in a bus as to ensure the safety of passengers during the epidemic, according to Wan Yifei, a manager at the Beijing Public Transport Corporation.

A mini-program on WeChat has also been developed and upgraded to assist passengers when booking bus trips and also to help them pay bus fares. A QR code is automatically created on the mini-program after people pay the bus fare, which enables people to get on these customized buses after having their QR codes scanned at the bus door, rather than having to buy tickets on-site.

The bus stops were formulated using big data as well as field visits to relevant communities. One of the aims of this special service is to minimize the amount of time needed to walk, according to a manager at one branch of the Beijing Public Transport Corporation.

“The customized bus can take me directly from my neighborhood to the stop across the street from my company. Now I walk a lot less than I did before to go to work,” said a man surnamed Song, who told Beijing Daily that he used to only be able to reach his company after several transfers, which was very inconveniencing.

Customized bus routes have relatively fixed passenger groups who can all be traced as they have provided relevant information on the real-name registration system within the mini-program at the time that they buy tickets, said Wan, adding that the buses ensure that every passenger has a seat and will ensure that certain distance is maintained between passengers.

By 12 p.m. on Feb. 26, the mini-program for the customized bus routes had more than 20,000 registered users and recorded over 2,600 effective orders, with the number of presold tickets reaching 10,000.

According to a credible source, other than helping passengers buy tickets online, getting to bus stops with the help of a navigation system as well as saving and sharing routes, the mini-program will also gradually roll out functions that enable users to choose seats, check the real-time locations of the buses, and see the real environment of bus stops online.