LivingShanghai.Com

Reaching almost every corner of the city, covering all the prosperous areas, the Metro is the fastest and most convenient way to move about in the downtown area. There are now ten lines and in December 2007 Shanghai's subway systems overtook Paris as the seventh longest network in the world.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The Shanghai Metro, as with elsewhere in the world, is the quickest method to get around a congested metropolis. It's also much cheaper than taxis with maximum fares of 7 yuan per journey. Some special advantages of the Shanghai metro is that it's easy to understand for foreigners due to the simple graph format of its maps, and signs are in both Chinese and Pinyin.

Another special advantage is that it's by far the best way to get across the Huangpu between Pudong and Puxi. Finally it connects both train stations in Shanghai and provides a link to the maglev which goes to Pudong airport.

However, the Metro has its disadvantages. It is extremely crowded in rush hours and Line 1 is crowded in whatever hours. Even the act of getting on and off the trains can be tiresome as people typically don't wait for passengers to disembark before getting on. Also be wary of thieves, both on the train and on the platform, especially when it is extremely crowded.

During rush hours in Shanghai, over-crowded coaches always require passengers to wait for more than one train before they can actually get onboard.