New Metro Card for Visitors to Shanghai

Shanghai plans to launch a Metro card for visitors valid for a few days or a week, city Metro operators said on Monday. They also announced the locations for 60 new public transport hubs around the city, mostly situated near Metro and bus stations. "The new Metro card will make it more convenient for visitors," Wu Xinyi, an official with Shanghai Shentong Holdings Company, which invests in local subway lines, said on Monday. A preliminary plan will be completed by the end of October, but the card's price and duration haven't yet been settled, officials said. They said the new cards, based on those used in cities such as New York, are designed to help the city's huge number of visitors. In 2010, about 70 million people - nearly four times more than the city's current population - are expected to visit the city's World Expo from May 1 to October 31. Also on Monday, the city's transport authority announced locations for about 60 public transport hubs to be built by 2010. Most hubs will allow transfers between Metro lines and buses, and some will have large underground parking lots. The biggest three hubs will be at Hongqiao and Pudong airports and Shanghai Railway Station. Other locations include Hongkou Football Stadium, Yishan Road and Jing'an Temple. From this year, the city government will gradually relocate bus stations to move closer to the hubs.


(Source:shanghaidaily , 2007-07-11)