General Information » Getting Around » Metro

Shanghai’s Metro system is by far the quickest way to travel across the city. Trains are very rarely delayed and, at busy stations such as People’s Square, come every three to five minutes. Currently you can reach most areas in central Shanghai using Lines 1 and 2: Line 1 runs from Shanghai South Railway Station to the northern Shanghai Railway Station via People’s Square; the eastern end of Line 2 reaches as far as Zhangjiang in Pudong and then runs into the Bund, through People’s Square before carrying on westwards to Zhongshan Park. This line will soon be extended out to Hongqiao airport. The partially elevated Line 3 and Line 4 circumvent the inner city; Line 4 will eventually be extended to include parts of Pudong. The city’s five-year guidelines for urban traffic improvements stated that by 2010, 75% of Shanghai residents will have access to the rail network within 600 metres of their homes. Currently 1.8 million people use the Metro each day, a large proportion of them during the daily rush hours of 07:30-10:00 and 17:00-19:30, when Metro cars can become unbearably crowded.

Tickets are cheap at between RMB 3-7 for a single journey and can be bought at a ticket counter or at the surprisingly helpful self-service ticket machines inside the stations. If you have a Shanghai Transport Card (jiaotong ka) you simply need to swipe this over the scanner on the turnstyles as you enter and exit the platforms. Once on board, announcements are made in both English and Chinese.

Metro Line 1 operates from 05:20-23:30, Line 2 from 06:30-23:00, while other lines generally start between 06:00-07:00 and run until 21:30-22:30.