February 27, 2007
Is Beijing's subway system better than Shanghai's?
We don't know honestly. We ride Shanghai's metro every day and have only used Beijing's a couple times back in 2004. Still, seeing Beijing ranked No. 9 (and Shanghai unranked) in this list of the top 11 underground transit systems in the world surprised us a bit — because all the China subway hype we hear is about Shanghai's fast-growing system (or maybe that's just because we live in Shanghai?). Here's what the list, from Virgin Vacations, said about Beijing's system (which ranked one spot ahead of Hong Kong's):
The Beijing Subway is a relatively new subway system that opened in 1969 and serves Beijing and the surrounding suburbs. It is currently being expanded upon in a 7.69 billion USD (63.8 billion yuan) project to prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games. The expansion project is expected to bring the current length of the subway station from approximately 71 miles to nearly 300 miles.Highlights: Fairly easy subway to navigate (especially if you're a foreigner). Cheap fare (3 yen for most trips). Interesting architecture on the newer subway lines. A very ambitious expansion project is in the works.
OK, aside from the obvious oddities of that write-up (the subway is somehow easier to use for foreigners? they take Japanese currency?) it seems the main reason Beijing makes the list is because of its plans for future growth. But if we're not mistaken, Shanghai's is the longest China metro system now ... and in the future — it's supposed to be the third longest system in the world by the time the 2010 World Expo arrives.
Maybe we're missing something — or maybe Virgin is just trying to sell tickets to Beijing for the Olympics. Anyway, you should check out the list. Lots of cool videos and photos, and now we really want to visit Moscow for some reason. Here's the top 11, in abbreviated form:
1. London, England
2. Paris, France
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Madrid, Spain
5. Tokyo, Japan
6. Seoul, Korea
7. New York City, USA
8. Montreal, Canada
9. Beijing, China
10. Hong Kong
11. Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Virgin list has been "dugg" nearly 600 times over at DIGG.com. There are more than 100 comments on that page. Also at DIGG, we found this very helpful site with subway maps from all over the world.
Photo of Beijing Subway by jiankun.
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That's such b.s. Beijing's subway doesn't even cover the Southern part of the city much of the other parts of the city for that matter. The last time I was there (last May), they were still using paper tickets. I'm sure that's changed by now, but still that's ghetto regardless.
Completely and utterly wrong. Beijing before Shanghai AND HK! Hong Kong's system is soooo much better. And where is Singapore? Munich has a great system too - - - much better than Beijing. Did these people just throw darts at a board?
Ha - do i detect a hint of subway envy.
In fact the Beijing subway system is kind of limited at the moment but it is cheap and i'm guessing the "foreigner friendliness" refers to the fact that when pulling into a station the station name is announced in both Chinese and English - which is helpful for newcomers who might mix up their Jishuitans and their Xizhimens.
As for Shanghai's boast of becoming the world's third largest subway system, it looks maybe you missed this piece of news: Beijing's metro system will stretch to 561 kilometres by 2020, replacing London's Underground as the longest subway system in the world.
So, which metro systems are missing from the list that should be there? (and which one would you kick off the list to make room?)
For me, the stand out omission is Budapest metro for the great soviet experience. Line 1 has to rank up with the best metro expriences of the world.
To make way for the inclusion of Budapest, I'm voting Beijing out.
Beautiful photo, thank you...
Beijing subway, with 2 lines + 2 suburbs lines is far away to be efficient and modern and very old fashion design and efficiency.
Before the opening of the new line in construction (2008 for most of them) it is also far way to cover all the city, I can not believe such a ranking.
This is ridiculous. I stayed in a hotel next to a subway station. It must've been one of the older ones. There was ONE ticket window (not automated) with no signs in English and no subway map. It was also filthy.
My impression was the same as Pete's. Plus, the city of Beijing is so darn big that they may rank high in mileage but their coverage is relatively lacking. With the opening of Line 3 and then 4, Shanghai surpassed Beijing in my estimation. By the end of this year, the openings of Lines 6, 8 and 9 should leave Shanghai well paved and in a pretty comfortable lead compared to the capital. Tech-wise, look at Nanjing, Guangdong or Shenzhen for better comparisons to Shanghai. Leaving off the HK subway rankings was a crime.
That Montreal is #8 on this list is laughable. Yeah, it's modern, a 1966 version of modern ie. cubist, avante garde trype. The "beautiful architecture" they mention consists of brown/beige tiled walls and grey cement floors. I remember no station art, only ads and graffiti. "Smooth rides"? Ha. Those ugly wheels have you bouncing up and down while recycled air blows in your face.
In terms of convenience, it's also laughable. A large section of the downtown city isn't covered (the plateau,mile-end,etc.). There haven't been any expansions to take care of this problem. Plus, it's damned expensive: $2.50 per ride.
Anyway,I have no idea why I'm bitching about this on a Shanghai based site. As far as I'm concerned, my limited experience with the Shanghai metro has proven it's superior to that of Montreal's.
I'd also like to mention Taipei's system. Yeah, it's not perfect (the Western County isn't serviced yet). But it's fast,clean, cheap, and very smooth.
The Beijing subway is a joke, plain and simple.
The Hong Kong subway is obviously way better. Whoever put the list together must have been smoking something heavy duty. I hope someone got a good payoff for this. They sure had balls to publish this list.
Barcelona and Washington DC are far superior to anything in China.
HK's system is the cleanest, fastest and most convenient I've ever seen. I don't know about the other cities, but to put Madrid, Paris and London ahead of HK is ludicrous, not to mention Beijing.
A friend recently visiting from NYC said he was embarrassed to be from New York, with its run-down subway system, after seeing the state of the Shanghai Metro. Far more deserving systems in the US would be Boston and Washington, DC, IMO. HK should be higher. Can't really argue with the top two, though I'd probably put Paris or Moscow at number 1 instead of London.
This is completely written by some clueless journalist. First, London has the best subway? Anyone who has lived and worked in London would know that it is always breaking down and always has delays. That's why each station has a “service status” notice board which is regularly updated by the staff detailing which lines are in “good” service and which ones are not. I don’t agree that Beijing is better than Shanghai. I was there last week and I love how they still have paper tickets if you don't have a stored value card! And some lines have very short trains (4 carriages?). I’m surprised that Tokyo isn’t higher and that Osaka or Singapore doesn’t get a mention! Moscow is a hot metro system – great stations and very little waiting between trains.
Agreed about Beijing line's being shit. Two lines+huge city=totally shit job of coverage. A lot of the stations aren't even in an interesting part town, just in the middle of some random street. Stations are small and dirty. Maybe by the Olympics or in 2020 it will be great, but they've done a pretty shit job over the last 30 years - it's the story for all of Beijing!
Shanghai's subway system doesn't have enough line transfers, and the transfers it does have require a 5 or 10 minute hike. It's about the same time to walk between Shaanxi Nan Lu and Jing'an Si station as compared to taking the subway. What, that's four fucking stops away? What a joke.
Maybe to somebody who's just very briefly looking at the surface impressions of Shanghai, the subway system is impressive and compares to that of NYC and the world's major cities. It's the story for all of Shanghai!
Moscow's subway system is amazing. While it is definitly one of the least modern on that list, it is incredibly reliable.
This article gave me my first laugh of the morning. I lived "close" to a Beijing subway when I was there -- a good 20 minute walk, and it got me nowhere. Some journalist is just pissed that the HK MTR doesn't go to Stanley Market and the Shanghai Metro doesn't go to Yuyuan, whereas the Beijing one will take you to all the downtown sights and (with a 15 minute walk) the zoo. Goodness.
And those paper tickets are whack. I saw recently in the paper that they were being changed, but when even Nanjing's subway has a better ticket method than Beijing's, you know something's bad.
agreed with liu liu and swearing transportation analyst above:
1)Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo etc. all have good subway systems. Ditto Singapore, HK, Taipei. Beijing currently is a stretch to even be listed in the top 10 subway systems in E. Asia let alone the world.
2)Shanghai subway system, while better than Beijing, is also poorly designed. E.G. all changeovers are 5-10 minutes apart, there are no up/down railings on stairways, there are no stand/walk sections on escalators, poor implementation of ticket machines, lack of ticket machine for charging transport card, etc. Another thing that a friend of mine commented on is the poor job done with Lujiazui station- it should have been connected to Jinmao/superbrand mall through tunnels, but instead the opening leaves you smack in the middle of both. It isnt that it's horrible really it's just that it could easily be done better--- particularly as it is a fairly new system and there are PLENTY of good examples out there that can be copied (one need look no further than Japan or HK)
Either they got their numbers wrong or mixed up their "M"s and "B"s.
The Paris subway "aids roughly 1.365 billion people with their daily commutes"? Since when are there even close to a billion people in France?
And Moscow with 3.2 billion daily commuters? Please. Even the entire country of China has fewer than 2 billion.
How did they find that the London subway system is n.1? I mean, really, there is always a problem with it: it is late, or broken down, and every morning on tv there are news updates about which line works or not...
The Parisian subway is way more reliable -although there are quite often workers'strikes- and easy. You can get anywhere in Paris or in the suburbs.
The HK subway is clean, fast, reliable and goes everywhere, so it deserves a better ranking than it received, and OF COURSE it is better than the Beijing subway, where they still have paper tickets (at least when I went there last October)...
Just chipping in to further emphasize the total shittiness of the Beijing subway system, which I last used 2 days ago. My two least favorite things about it are:
1. The Loop Line conveniently loops around most of what anyone is trying to get to in the central part of the city. Tourists who want to shuttle between Tiananmen and the Silk Market do fine, but anyone who actually lives here can't get where they need to go.
2. Something is wrong with the hyraulic stabalization system on a number of the lines, causing them to rock back and forth like a gently swaying boat whenever they're stopped. I don't get seasick or carsick, but I do get pretty queasy on the Beijing subway...
Was just in Shanghai over Chunjie and found the subway far superior to Beijing's, although a bit pricier. And Hong Kong's subway is superior to both -- as long as you buy an Octapus card.
I loathe the Shanghai Metro and avoid it at all costs, especially during busy times. What could be worse than squashed among the great unwashed. It is sickening and uncomfortable to have to endure strangers odours and wandering hands. When Metro commuters in this town learn to wear clean clothes and bathe daily, maybe it would be more tolerable.
Hey, I resemble that remark (cf the great unwashed).
I read a lot of racist comments here...probably from expats that didnt choose to come here...IF its not the case then it absolutely doesnt excuse anything! watch ur mouth people! What a good image u give of foreigners!
Yes i agree, such comments should not be tolerated on Shanghaiist...but then again its not the first time
As a New Yorker, I am saddened by that friend's comment about being ashamed of the subway. How can anyone even compare the NYC subway with the Shanghai metro? First of all, the NYC subway is over a hundred years old. I'd love to see what Shanghai's metro looks like a hundred years down the road. Secondly, the subway is 24 HOURS. I don't think there are any other metros that run 24 hours, even Hong Kong (which I think is far superior than most metros, ESPECIALLY Beijing's). Lastly, there are 26 lines servicing four boroughs. In Shanghai, there are currently what, 3, 4 working lines? With a grand whopping total of 11 to be finished by 2010? To service 16 million people? The NYC subway may be dirty (although that's changing around the city), sometimes dangerous, and ridiculously hot in the summer, but it's reliable, fast, plentiful, and did i mention it runs 24 HOURS?
Stepping off my soapox now...
For those who are interested, I take buses in Shanghai.
Shanghai metro is overcrowded and poorly designed for sure, but I have to say it is fairly well ventilated and that I find 'plex's comment above to be a bit of an exaggeration.
However, I would say that 'sad' it is stretching it a bit to say that it was a rascist remark. Besides which, dislike of the overcrowded metro (and buses for that mantter) is a phenomenon that is not limited to foreigners.
Furthermore, beyond that one comment by plex, I can't really see that any of the other comments above are -at all- racist in any way shape or form.
Speaking of Shanghai subway, I think even Guangzhou has a better subway system.
I think Beijing subway certainly deserves its place in the list. Beijing's ground transportation is just not usable during commute hours anymore. I have a car, but I don't drive to work anymore. I take the subway. So Shanghai people can shut it and leave Beijing Subway alone. Without it, I am going to start a road rage rampage and crashing a lot of cars. :)
New York's system is extensive, but I don't know about reliable. There are very few lines that are reliable, and only on the weekdays.
Weekends and late nights? Forget about it. Unless you live below Central Park, you're looking at 1-2 hr treks home. The weekend schedule is so screwed up that many service changes aren't even announced. Routes change at a conductor's whim.
I love how the picture of the NYC subway shows the "L" line, which is one of the 4 or 5 lines that is actually clean, out of 26.
My comment has nothing to do with race, rather a typical observation shared by many about the Metro and the large percentage of smelly people it attracts, regardless of race. ( I'm sure we have all seen how some gweilos get about in this town: like something the cat dragged in. )
I vote for the Chicago subway - also 24hrs!
Re: Diana's comments
Seeing that most metro systems (in China anyway) don't run past 11, I'd say the NYC subway running all night is reliable enough. I grew up in Washington Heights (way way north of Central Park) and the subway is the only option home. I wouldn't even think of taking a cab home, much less a bus, which would add two hours to my trip. There have been plenty of nights where I take the subway at 2, 3 in the morning and am always grateful there is a train to take me home, no matter the delay.
My point is, there is always a subway stop nearby anywhere in the city to bring you somewhere close to where you want to go. Here in Shanghai, if you live in the downtown area, you have a total of TWO lines to bring you anywhere. The closest metro stop from where I live now is a 20 minute (quick paced) walk away. I say boo to the Shanghai metro... but yay for Chicago! I knew there was another system that ran 24 hours.
I found the 2 main lines in Beijing a bit laughable with the crepe paper ticket but it was damn cheap and reasonably reliable. I used the new line and it was far more up-to-date. Japanese style trains/stations/ticketing systems but in the middle of nowhere and of little use for tourists.
Shanghais' was alright but there were still no working ticket machines when I arrived and the sheer amount of people trying to use the subway was off putting. It was national weekend so I'll have to rate it some other time.
Hk/Taipei/Tokyo/Singapore all have great subway systems. Clean most of the time and very reliable.
I found Mexico Cities subway to be the best on my travels! Ludicrously cheap (2 pesos), easy to navigate and covers everywhere in such a vast city. Sure it may be slightly dangerous but trains arrive every few seconds and the speed seems to be restricted only by how fast the driver wants to go! We were always catching up with the train in front.
London Underground gets a bad rap but I've never had a problem with it. Sure it is horrible in the summer and some line is always broken but there are so many interlinking lines that you can always get to your destination without too much trouble. If only it closed later.
Can't speak for other cities on the top 11 list, but feel Beijing's subway should be relocated to the top 11 nightmare rides list. I went to college in Beijing for the last 5 years and had a pretty good taste of it. With all due respect, a good many stations felt like dungeons. The lights were dim and you get rocked like being on a space shuttle lauch platform on a train.
Although I am from Shanghai, but I am not biased. Shanghai's newly open routes Line 6,8 and 9 have design flaws humour me a lot. The train and the platforms are not on the same level, you have to climb onto the train! Given we already have 5 lines in full operation for almost two decades now, it humors me greatly. During moring rush hours, Line 1 is no doubt a giant torture chamber you get squeezed into a molecule.
All that said, by comparison, I vote for rush hour torture chamber to year-around dungeon.