The Metro, Plainly

The Shanghai metro is the best way to move around the city: cheap, fast, air-conditioned, signed in English, and unaffected by traffic. It is also the single most intimidating thing for a first-time visitor, mostly because of the security check.

Once you have done it once, you will do it twenty times a day.

The security check

Every station has one. Put your bag on the belt, walk through the frame. Bottles may be checked or asked to be sipped from. It takes twenty seconds once you know it is coming.

This is the part that surprises visitors. It is routine, not a response to anything you did.

Paying

The simplest option is a transport QR code inside your wallet app, generated at the gate. Single-journey tokens from the machines work too, and the machines have an English screen.

Fares are a few yuan for central journeys. Tap or scan on entry and again on exit.

Reading the system

Lines are numbered and colour-coded. Every station lists the next station and the terminus direction — check the terminus, not just the line number, because you can board the right line going the wrong way.

Transfers are signed in English. Some are long walks; Xujiahui and Century Avenue are the ones to allow extra time for.

Exits matter more than you think

Stations have many exits, sometimes eight or more, and they can be several hundred metres apart. Every route on this site names the exit it starts from, because "meet at the station" is not precise enough in Shanghai.

Hours and crowding

Trains run roughly 05:30 to 22:30 depending on the line, with later service on some central lines. Peak hours are genuinely packed — 08:00–09:30 and 18:00–19:30. Travel outside those if you can.