The route-planner on the metro map has just had an upgrade! The suggested routes should now be more logical, and the estimated times more accurate.

The gory details:

• Times for transferring between lines are now much more accurate. Fascinating fact: the longest walk between platforms is between line 2 and lines 3/4 at Zhongshan Park (about 4mins 30secs walk). The shortest is between line 4 and line 8 at South Xizang Road (30 seconds). I know, I timed it.
• Timing for the shuttle bus between line 3 at Yishan Road and line 9 at Guilin Road is now more accurate
• The journey times now include approximate waiting times at the initial and interchange stations; for example although line 1 trains arrive every 3-4 minutes, line 9 trains arrive only every 14 minutes
• The routeplanner will now only suggest changing at Shanghai Railway Station (and hence buying a second ticket) if it will save you at least 10 minutes in total journey time over an alternative route.
• Various special cases are dealt with more sensibly. For example, if you try and plot a route from Hongkou Stadium (line 3) to Hongkou Stadium (line the routeplanner will suggest walking!

Of course, no routeplanning can be perfect since the best route and time taken for a journey is affected by many factors. If you have feedback on the routeplanner, or suggestions for improvements, please get in touch!

Like this article? Want to be the first to hear about updates to our great maps? Subscribe to our feed, follow us on Twitter or become our fan on Facebook

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 2:43 am and is filed under shanghai. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.