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 8) 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!

ExploreShanghai is growing in popularity! On the 10th January for the first time there were over 10,000 visits in a day.

Thanks for all the many emails and blog posts with suggestions for improving the metro map , I will endeavour to reply to everyone once I have recovered from a lousy cold. In particular, in the next two months you can expect:

• An improved routeplanner with accurate times for changing lines
• Zooming of the map so you can see (and print) the whole map on a single page
• Other exciting and secret features 🙂

Thanks to the many people who pointed out that the metro map route planner didn’t work too well for journeys via Shanghai Railway Station or Hongkou Stadium. For example, it often makes sense to change between lines 1 and 3 at Shanghai Railway Station, even though this involves buying a second ticket.

The good news is this is now reflected in the journey planner: it will show the price of both parts of the journey where appropriate:

In addition, there are now more accurate journey times and first train/last train information for the new Line 6.