Even though
the city itself is extremely large and there are several things that don’t
work, public transportation is not one of these things. The large network of
buses, metros, taxis, ferries and trains cover almost every single part of the
city. Especially inside the ring circle of metro line 4 you need to walk
maximum 10 minutes to reach a metro station.
Metro:
There are
12 metro lines currently on the Shanghai Metro system but it is also constantly
developed and in year 2020 it should contain already 22 lines. Metro stations
are easy to find and accessible. There are large signs showing where the
stations are from couple of blocks area.
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| Metro sign |
Some biggest lines; Line 4 is a circle line. Line 2 goes from Airport - to airport so crossing the whole city from east to west. Line 1 is the second biggest line after line 2 going from North to South. And the biggest changing point in the city is People Square, always crowded with the crossing point of 3 lines (1,2 and 8).
Even though
this is also the main transportation system for locals, the metros are probably
the cleanest ones I have ever seen. Taking this and the fact that metros go
every 2 or 3 minute (in rush hour every 1 minute) throughout the whole day
makes moving the large masses very efficient.
The rush
hours are 7.30-9.30 AM and 6-7.30 PM. In these times you might need to wait the
second metro to arrive to fit in but normally this will do. One trip less than
10 km costs 3 RMB and after that every 10 KM is worth 1 RMB. For example from
the Pudong airport metro to People square it is 7 RMB. There are some minor
exceptions but the maximum for one trip journey is 10 RMB.
Buses:
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| Public bus |
I don’t
have that much experience from these since in most of the buses there are not
English signs about the names of the bus stops. So even though these cover the
city extremely well you need to be able to understand your destination in
Chinese to hop off on the right stop, unless of course you know exactly in
which stop to hop off.
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| Bus stop |
Taxi:
Taxis are
cheap and if you have your address in Chinese they will most likely get you
there without any further instructions. There are around 80 000 Taxis in
Shanghai so you have faire changes to get one of those in any point of the day.
Normally you need to wait maximum 5 minutes even in the worst rush hour to get
a taxi from the street. And the easiest way is exactly from the street. Almost all
of the taxi companies acclaim they have English speaking staff through 24/7 but
it is much harder to get the address right in Chinese via phone than showing it
to the driver.
In general taxi drivers are very polite,
always use meter and don’t accept tipping. Actually I talked with one taxi
driver longer and heard quite interesting stories about their customer service
requirements. For example taxi drivers always need to look neat and use white
glows. Customer can also in any point of the journey ask the driver to
open/close windows turn on/off the radio, etc (this is still normal). They
always need to greet customer, offering the recipe without asking etc. The list
is very long and if they unfill any of these requirements the customer can
basically call the taxi company and leave the taxi without paying the trip. The
better the taxi drivers are, the more stars there are in their placates inside
the taxi. Already receiving one star is very difficult but I managed to find a
3-star driver. With him I had no problems to get to my destination, even though
the place I was going was located in to a really small alley.
There are 7
different colors of taxis in Shanghai and the color of the taxi marks the taxi
company. The most reliable ones and which I always use are turquoise and white
taxis. These are both private companies which can operate in the whole city
area.
Some of the
companies can only operate in certain areas and naturally with them you can get
to the other side of the city.
Red taxi is
something to avoid. This is public company and their drivers don’t have any
qualifications. When hearing stories, even though taxi scams are rear, they
always seem to happen for red taxi customers.
The prices
for taxis are same in each company.
The basic fare at the daytime is 14 RMB and
it includes 3 km journey, after this it is 2 RMB per kilometer until 10 km. And
after 10 km journey it is 1 RMB per kilometer. At night time (11PM – 5 AM) the
starting fare is 18 RMB again with 3 kilometers and then 3 RMB per kilometer.
All taxis
give you the printed taxi recipe. It is wise to save this since in case you
forgot something to taxi you can call to the company which number is in the
recipe and might even receive your belongings (I wasn’t this lucky but you
might be).
Ferries:
Since
Shanghai is built along the river, you also might need to cross the river
Huangpu to get to the other side, either Bund or Pudong. If you don’t want to take metro under the
river or just want to enjoy the river for a while, the river ferries are very
convenient. Price for one crossing is only 0,5 RMB for pedestrians and the ferries go every 15 minute.
Trains:
There are
two main train stations in Shanghai, North and South Stations, both along
circle line metro 4. And through these stations goes all the long distance
transportation. Mainly when you want to go south you go south station and vice
versa. Tickets can be bought in the station maximum 3 days before departure or then from the China Railway kiosks which are located everywhere in the city. The staff doesn't speak English so better take dictionary with and your destination written in Chinese as the dates you wish to travel. Also the long term buses leave from these terminals.
Best part
of all? They all connected together into a same
network. Buy the public transportation card from any metro stations and you can
use it in all of these means. The card costs 20 RMB (which will be reimbursed to you when returning it) and you can download as much credit as you want in all metro
stations. Extremely convenient even though you don’t get any discount using the
card compared to the normal single journey ride (like for example the Oyster card in London) but it is still worth to get
the card instead of buying the tickets in every single time with coins
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| Public transportation card |
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| All means which this is accepted listed below |
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