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Shanghai Metro System
Shanghai has an extensive public transportation system, largely based on buses, and a rapidly expanding metro system. For a city of Shanghai's size, road traffic is fairly smooth and convenient.

Shanghai has the world's most extensive bus system with nearly one thousand bus lines. The Shanghai Metro (subway and elevated light rail) has five lines (numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) at present. According to the development schedule of the municipal government, by the year 2010, another 8 lines will be built in Shanghai. Bus and metro fares run from Line 1 to Line 4 depending on distance (or between 12 to 50 US cents). Taxis in Shanghai are plentiful and market competition has driven taxi fare down to affordable prices for the average resident (RMB 11 or a little over one US dollar for 3 km). Before the 1990s, bicycling was the most ubiquitous form of transportation in Shanghai, but the city has since banned bicycles on many of the city's main roads to ease congestion. However, many streets have bicycle lanes and intersections are monitored by "Traffic Assistants" who help provide for safe crossing. Further, most motorists in China were raised riding bikes and so are fairly careful of them. Further, the city government has pledged to add 180 km of cycling lanes over the next few years. With rising disposable incomes, private car ownership in Shanghai has also been rapidly increasing in recent years. The number of cars is limited, however, by the number of available number plates available at public auction.

Map and routes of Shanghai Metro

Maglev Train
Shanghai has two airports: Hongqiao and Pudong International Airport, which has the second highest (combined) traffic in China, following Hong Kong International Airport . In cooperation with the Shanghai municipality and the Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Co. (SMT), German Transrapid constructed the first commercial maglev railway in the world in 2002, from Shanghai's Longyang Road subway station to Pudong International Airport. Commercial operation started in 2003 . The 30 km trip takes 7 minutes and 21 seconds and reaches a maximum speed of 431 km/h (267.8 miles per hour).

Railway         Shanghai Train Search
Two railways intersect in Shanghai: Jinghu Railway (Beijing-Shanghai) Railway passing through Nanjing, and Shanghai- Hangzhou Railway (Hu Hang Line). Shanghai has two main railway stations, Shanghai Railway Station and Shanghai South Railway Station. A maglev train route to Hangzhou ( Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev Train) will begin construction in 2006 and is planned to be finished in 2008. A high-speed railroad to Beijing is also in the works. More than six national expressways (prefixed with "G") from Beijing and from the region around Shanghai connect to the city. Shanghai itself has six toll-free elevated expressways (skyways) in the urban core and 18 municipal expressways (prefixed with "A"). There are ambitious plans to build expressways connecting Shanghai's Chongming Island with the urban core.

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