Every Shanghai Metro station in one day

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On Monday 19th January I will attempt to visit every Shanghai Metro station in one day!

In the last five years the Shanghai Metro system it’s grown from three lines to eight, with 147 stations. It’s now the largest network in China and the sixth largest in the world. In London, people have been doing the Tube Challenge for decades, but as far as I know, this is the first attempt with the current network in Shanghai (feel free to prove me wrong in the comments). By 2020, I fear it will be impossible to visit every station in a day!

I’ll be sending updates via Twitter during the challenge, and supporters are welcome to cheer me on. Find out:

  • can I make it to Minhang Development Zone before the system shuts down for the night?
  • what are the best and the worst stations for interchanging?
  • will I remember to get off line 4, or will I keep on going round and round?
  • which little old ladies will I need to elbow out of the way to get to the front of the queue?

It all starts at 6am, 19th January at Songjiang Xincheng.

Here are the rules I will follow, based on the rules on the London tube forum site

  1. All stations served by Shanghai Metro underground and light rail services (line 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9) must be visited in a single day.
  2. To visit a station, you must arrive and/or depart by an metro train in normal public service.
  3. It is necessary for a through train to stop at the station for the visit to count, although you do not need to get out.
  4. If a stations has two separated parts which share the same name, they must each be visited. This applies to Pudian Road (line 4, line 6), Hongkou Football Stadium (line 3, line 8), Shanghai Railway Station (line 1, line 3/4) and Yishan Road (line 3/9, line 4).
  5. Feet or public buses may be used to transfer from one metro line to another. The use of private motor vehicles, taxis or any other form of privately arranged transport (bicycles, skateboards, Haibao-pulled chariot etc) is not acceptable.
  6. It is not necessary to cover every stretch of track on the network
  7. A log book should be kept throughout the whole journey.
  8. The clock must start the moment the doors close on the first train taken by the challenger(s). It must stop the moment the challenger(s) set foot on the platform at the last station.

147 stations, eight lines, one manic Monday. Wish me luck!

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26 thoughts on “Every Shanghai Metro station in one day”

  1. ana

    So, just to see if I understand, for the line 4, for instance, you just need to sit on the train for the whole circle ride for it to count as visiting all the stations?

  3. DKwan

    Well if the time estimates from your site are accurate (and I find them to be pretty accurate), and if I understand the rules correctly, it can be done. 🙂 Good luck!

  4. Pingback: 147 stations « this and mine

  5. matt Post author

    @ana, thats right. you need to start at, stop at, or travel through every station

    @ChinaPaul
    I did try to write an algorithm first, but discovered i could make a better route by hand 🙂 According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_salesman_problem

    “The TSP, in particular the Euclidean variant of the problem, has attracted the attention of researchers in cognitive psychology. It is observed that humans are able to produce good quality solutions quickly. The first issue of the Journal of Problem Solving is devoted to the topic of human performance on TSP.”

  11. OOJ.

    Cheap entertainment. What’s the cost between first stop and last stop and buses in between? 😀

    See you tomorrow on Line 6 all being well!

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  22. gregorylent

    if you are on twitter, you need to follow @davidfeng .. as in love with shanghai subway as you, beijing and tianjin too .. and if you are not on twitter, you should be .. enjoy, gregory

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