This week we're previewing the new lines expected to open in Shanghai and Beijing in December 2012. Today, Beijing Line 8!
Beijing Subway Line 8 initially opened with a small stretch between Beitucheng and South Gate of Forest Park in time for the 2008 Olympics, and ferried spectators to the Olympic Stadium. Last year a northern extension connected it to Line 13 at Huoying, and this year we expect a southern extension which should connect Line 8 to Line 2 at Guoloudajie, making Line 8 much more accessible from central Beijing. There are two intervening stations between Beitucheng and Guoloudajie: Anhuaqiao should open in December, while Andelibeijie will open at a later date.
Line 8 should look like this by the end of the year (click to enlarge!):
This week we're previewing the new lines expected to open in Shanghai and Beijing in December 2012. Today, Beijing Line 10!
Beijing Subway Line 10 is an impressive engineering feat. By late 2013 it will form an outer ring around Beijing, with 45 stations including 24 interchange stations! The total track length of 57km will make it the longest circular metro line in the world by our calculations, beating out the circular part of Seoul's Metro Line 2.
Roughly half the line (the north and east parts of the loop) has been running since 2008, and in December 2012 it's expected that most of the rest of the loop will open, save for a break in the circle in the south west corner, where Niwa and Fengtai Railway Station will open later in 2013. Jiaomen East station is also expected to be delayed. That means Line 10 will look something like this by the end of the year (click to enlarge):
Beijing and Shanghai are fierce rivals. Both cities have dramatically increased the length of their subway networks in recent years, especially around Beijing's 2008 Olympics and Shanghai's 2010 World Expo.
Shanghai has 425km of track (excluding the Maglev and Jinshan Railway), making it the longest subway network in the world, while Beijing currently has 372km. Traditionally, the main metro networks in Mainland China open new lines in the last few days of December. This year is no different, with both the Shanghai Metro and Beijing Subway scheduled to open new lines in late December 2012. The metro operators rarely release information about exactly which lines will open until a few days before the end of the year, which leaves an intriguing conundrum: what will be the longest metro system in the world at the dawn of 2013?
Over the next few days we'll be providing a rundown of what new lines you can look forward to riding in 2013, but here's a sneak peek:
Beijing should open a brand new Line 6, which runs parallel to the overcrowded Line 1. Line 8 will extend further south to meet Line 2, Line 9 will extend north to meet Line 1 and Line 4, while Line 10 will add 23 new stations to almost complete a large loop around the city (the final two stations of the loop will open later in 2013). In total, around 70km of new track will open, which would take Beijing to a track length of 442 km.
Shanghai has three lines or extensions which may open before the end of the year: Line 9 is due for a 3-station, 6.5km extension in the west, linking up Songjiang South Railway Station. The 8km-long phase 1 of Line 13 will head west from Jinshajiang Road on Line 3/4 to Huajiang Road. The first phase of Line 12 in Pudong is 13.1km long, and will intersect with Line 4 and Line 6.
If Shanghai can manage to open 18km of track it will keep its total track length ahead of Beijing, but if deadlines slip to 2013 they could allow Beijing to take back the crown!
As always, the metro operators remain tightlipped about exactly which stations and lines will open. Delays are not uncommon, and some individual stations may open later than the rest of the line. Stay tuned for updates!
We'll continue to make improvements to the map based on your feedback.
And we have a bonus feature for everyone running Android 3.0 or higher! When you tap on a station and choose a street map, you can now choose between a Google Map, and a offline street map, provided by OpenStreetMaps. So now, even if you're offline, you can still quickly check the area around a station.
If you like the new features, we'd really appreciate your reviews in Google Play!
We're delighted to announce our new free app Taxi Crab which lets you rate and tag taxi drivers in Shanghai, China. It's available today for iPhone and Android.
How to use the app
STEP 1 - Enter your taxi driver's 6 digit code, which should be visible at the front of the taxi.
STEP 2 - give your taxi driver a rating out of five crabs, and add tags!
STEP 3 - see the results from other users, including average rating and popular tags. We'll even tell you if you have driven with the same taxi driver before!
Available tags
ORDINARY ZHOU Safely gets you from A to B
MR STINKY Hold your nose, this driver smells
SPITTER Extra points for distance
SCENIC ROUTE Taking you the long way round
NEWBIE Doesn't know where anything is
ALL DRESSED UP Uniform and white gloves
SCISSORHANDS Those fingernails are scary
RACECAR DRIVER Wants to be in Formula One
GRANDMA Why is everyone overtaking?
CHATTERBOX Can't stop talking
KTV STAR Can't stop singing
CASANOVA 'So, do you have a boyfriend?'
Download now (it's free!)
Taxi Crab is available now on the App Store (requires iOS6) and Google Play (requires Android 4).
Back in December we reported on Shanghai Metro Line 22, which links Shanghai South Railway Station with Jinshan in the southern suburbs. After some delays, the Jinshan Railway is finally open. The good news is that you can now reach Jinshan in just 32 minutes on an express train. The bad news is that this isn't really a metro line, but a express commuter line - the "Line 22" branding has been dropped, there's no integrated ticketing with the rest of the Shanghai Metro network, and most damningly there are only 11 trains a day in each direction!
To take the Jinshan Line, it's easiest to exit Shanghai South Railway Station at Exit 3. Follow the signs to "Jinshan Railway". You can purchase a ticket from ticket machines, a one-way ticket from Shanghai South Railway Station to Jinshan costs 10 RMB.
Trains in bold are express trains, making a direct trip to Jinshanwei in 32 minutes. The other trains stop at all stations, and make the journey in 1 hour.
Due to the low frequency of trains on this line (you may have to wait over 90 minutes for a train at non-peak hours) we won't be adding the line to our online metro map or apps yet. To qualify as a rapid transit service, you shouldn't need to look as a timetable :) We'll be posting updates on our blog and if more trains are added, we may add the line to our maps at a later date.
A new station has opened on the Taipei Metro at Dongmen on the Orange Line. Located between the interchange stations at Guting and Zhongxiao Xinsheng, the new station connects the two previously separate halves of the Orange Line: trains now run all the way from Nanshijiao to Luzhou and Fu Jen University. To reach stations on the Red or Green lines, you should now change at Guting. Here's a snippet of the metro map before and after the changes:
Before
After
We've updated our Taipei Metro online metro map with the new station and routes. We'll be updating our apps for iPhone and Android soon, once pricing and timetable information for the new line is confirmed.
A lot has been written about the transition to the new Apple Maps in iOS6. Because ExploreMetro uses Apple's MapKit framework, once you update your device to iOS6 and request a street map for a metro station, you will see Apple's map providers instead of Google Maps. As a developer, I have no control over this, and unfortunately even if you prefer Google Maps, there is no way to revert.
The situation inside China is even more complex: there are two different mapping providers used by Apple: while internationally Apple's data provider is TomTom, within China Apple uses AutoNavi.
TomTom maps have good coverage in the US but coverage of Chinese cities is very limited: just road names:
Autonavi maps have very limited international coverage but coverage of Chinese cities is good, including many points of interest, some metro station names etc.
You can't manually select which map tiles to show: your device selects the maps based on your current location. If you're in China and are seeing the TomTom maps but want to see AutoNavi maps, try this:
1. Disconnect any VPN 2. Force-quit Maps 3. Go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset Location & Privacy 4. Restart Maps 5. If this still doesn't work, try Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings (this will remove any saved Wifi passwords etc)
There's one more complication. The Autonavi and Tomtom map tiles don't match up exactly. There is a shift between the two. In order to display the maps correctly if you're using Autonavi maps, you must select "Enable map shift" in the latest version of Explore Shanghai (in the Help tab) or "Disable map shift" if you're using the TomTom maps. If you have the wrong setting selected, when you request a street map, the map will not be centered on the correct location.
I apologise for this messy situation, hopefully Apple will make things simpler in the future! Similar updates will be available for our other China metro maps shortly.
The Shanghai Metro company have announced that a new station China Art Museum will open tomorrow, September 28 2012. The station is named after the adjacent China Art Museum, which also opens for trial operation this National Holiday week. The museum is housed in what was the China Pavilion during the 2010 World Expo. The station will also be convenient for events at the nearby Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Here's a snippet of the metro map, showing the location of China Art Museum on Line 8. The station (formely known by the Chinese name of Zhoujiadu in plans) is between South Xizang Road and Yaohua Road on Line 8.
This version brings support for the iPhone 5's larger screen, and deeper integration with Apple's new Maps. ExploreMetro apps are now an official provider of public transport directions in the Maps app! That means its even easier to get point-to-point directions. Here's an example:
1. I'm currently on Yishan Road in Shanghai, I need to go to M1NT to steal a shark for dinner. 2. I open the Maps app
3. Search for my destination. There it is!
4. Tap the arrow to get details 5. Choose "Directions to here" 6. Tap the "public transport" button
7. Tap "Route" 8. You'll see a list of apps which will let you plan directions. Explore Shanghai should be top of the list!
9. Tap "Route" and Explore Shanghai will launch 10. A route diagram is shown, including any walking segments.
The point-to-point directions will try to be smart and reduce your overall travel time. Sometimes that may mean walking to a slightly more distant metro station if it means a faster journey time. If you think the routeplanner is suggesting bad routes, do get in touch!
Point to point directions requires iOS6, the rest of the app continues to work fine on iOS4.3 and above! Explore Singapore 8.0 and Explore Shanghai 8.0 are available from the App Store.
