The Metro

I had my first encounter with the Shanghai Metro this weekend. Took Line 1 to People's Square and transferred to Line 2, which I took out to the Science and Technology Museum for a shopping trip (written about above).

My impressions: First, it was almost disappointingly easy for an English speaker to figure out how to pay and where to go. All ticket kiosks and signage had directions in English, and stop announcements were made in both Chinese and English.

Second, the Metro has the cleanest, smoothest and quietest ride I've ever been on. Though the stations and trains are so shiny-clean that they lack soul, the Shanghai system absolutely out-classes every subway or L system I've seen in the United States.

Third, it was quite crowded on a Saturday afternoon. Standing room only in all of the cars. Makes me wonder what weekday rush hour is like.

Fourth, riders enter and exit the cars in one mad rush, rather than allowing people to exit first. Only a mild annoyance when I was riding but it must be chaos when the trains are truly packed.

Finally, a cool fact: daily ridership of the Metro is about 2.2 million. That's bigger than the populations of all but 3 cities in the US.