Metro System in Shanghai

The Shanghai Metro is the urban rapid transit system of China's largest city, Shanghai. The system incorporates both subway (地铁, dì tiě) and light rail (轻轨, qīnɡ ɡuǐ) lines. It opened in 1995, making Shanghai the third city in Mainland China, after Beijing and Tianjin, to have a rapid transit system. Since then, the Shanghai Metro has become one of the fastest-growing rapid transit systems in the world.

Subway and Light rail line

As of 2011, there are twelve metro lines (excluding the Shanghai Maglev Train), over 434 kilometres of tracks in operation, the longest network in the world. The system continues to grow, with new lines and extensions of old lines currently under construction.

Current system

There're 12 metro lines in Shanghai till 2011. Line 3 and 4 are light rail lines. The rest lines are subway. Please see the picture below:

Full revolution version in English

Interchanges

Intechanes in Shanghai are much easier than in Beijing. In all the stations, you just need to follow the arrow sign on the ground. Basically speaking, there are two types of interchange stations: physical interchange and virtual interchange stations.

Follow the sign on the ground

In a physical interchange station, passengers can transfer between subway lines without exiting a fare zone. In a virtual interchange station, however, passengers have to exit and re-enter fare zones as they transfer from one subway line to another. In order to receive a discounted fare, passengers must use a Shanghai public transport card (SPTC) instead of Single-Ride tickets.

Public transport card

In addition to a Single-Ride ticket, fare can be paid using a Shanghai public transport card. This RFID-embedded card can be purchased at selected banks, convenience stores and metro stations with a 20-yuan deposit. This card can be loaded at ticket booths, Service Centers at the metro stations as well as many small convenience stores and banks throughout the city. The Shanghai Public Transportation Card can also be used to pay for other forms of transportation, such as taxi or bus. 

Transportation card in Shanghai

This transit card is similar to the Oyster card of the London Underground (and other London transport systems), Chicago card of the CTA and the Octopus card of Hong Kong's MTR. It's really a popluar system in Shanghai and most of the Shanghainese use transport card everyday.