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Shenzhen Metro to Extend Holiday Service for Christmas, New Year’s

Posted: 12/24/2014 9:36 am
santa subway hangzhou

Santa passes out treats on the Hangzhou Metro in 2012.

The Christmas holidays may not be official in China, but don’t let that stop you from celebrating all night long this year, as the Shenzhen Metro will be extending service hours for Christmas and New Year’s.

All five lines of the Shenzhen Metro will provide 24 hour service on December 24 (Christmas Eve), December 31 (New Year’s Eve), and January 1, 2015 (New Year’s Day).

If you’re concerned about going home by subway using limited service, they’ve confirmed complete service after midnight for New Year’s Eve revelers on two lines. On January 1 at 12:15 and 12:25am, Line 1 will run two trains the entire line from Luohu Station to Airport East Station. Line 2 will run the same schedule from Xinxiu Station to Chiwan Station.

For those who don’t turn into a proverbial pumpkin at midnight, there’s still other trains. All the same, we wish everyone a happy holidays, and to get home safe.

Photo: hangzhou

Haohao

PRD Megacity Emerges: Subway to Connect Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen

Posted: 07/4/2014 3:59 pm

tricity subway guangzhou shenzhen dongguan pearl river delta megacity subwayAs Beijing makes plans to develop itself into a megacity of the north, the long-standing intention to integrate the three cities of the Pearl River Delta is coming to fruition.

Details of the tri-city subway system that will interconnect the public transportation networks of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen have been announced, reports Yangcheng Evening Report.

The subway line will extend from Xintang, Baiyun Airport to Guangzhou North station.

Costing RMB 3.44 billion, the subway line will consist of 13 subways stations, including: Xintang Station, Zengcheng Development District Station, Lihu City Station, Zhenlong Station, Pinggang Station, Folang Village Station, Matouzhuang Station, Healthy Industrial City Station, Zhuliao Station, Airport Terminal 3 Station, Airport Terminal 2 Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, Huashan, Tiangui Road, and Guangzhou North Station.

In other subway developments, plans are being discussed to connect Guangzhou Metro Line 5 to Dongguan Metro Line 1.

With a terminal station at Huangpu Passenger Ferry Terminal, the extended subway line will intersect with the Dongguan Metro at Mayong Station. It is expected to be completed in 2020.

tricity subway guangzhou shenzhen dongguan pearl river delta megacity subway

Photos: Yangcheng Evening Report

Haohao

Mom Too Busy on Phone to Notice Daughter Peeing on Shenzhen Metro

Posted: 06/20/2014 8:00 am
phone mama daughter pee

The trail of pee is visible in the photo.

Every few minutes, the hum of Hong Kong’s MTR trains is punctuated by a monotone female voice that announces, “Dear passengers, please hold the handrail. Do not keep your eyes only on your mobile phones.”

We don’t know if there are similar announcements made on the Shenzhen Metro, but parents who are so fixated on their phones that they refuse to take their kids to the toilet deserve a similar announcement: “Irresponsible parents, please keep your eyes on your kids, not your mobile phones.”

We don’t know what the woman was doing on her phone at the time, but whatever it was, it was compelling enough to ignore her child’s plea for a toilet. And as any parent can attest, it often requires the discipline of a Zen Buddhist to ignore a whimpering child.

READ: Photo of Boy Taking a Shit on Guangzhou Subway Goes Viral

On June 17 on Shenzhen Metro Line 5, a little girl was seen crying on the train, asking her mother to take her to the toilet. After two stops of receiving the silent treatment, the little girl could no longer hold it, squatted, and proceeded to do what comes naturally.

The trail of pee flowed as long as three to four meters according to a witness who posted the images online, Yang Cheng Evening News reported. After relieving herself, the little girl was dragged back to her seat by her mother. The daughter was seen sobbing on a suitcase while her mother continued to stare at her phone as if nothing happened.

READ: You’re in Luck: Guangzhou Public Bathroom App Streaming Online

According to the report, each subway stop on Line 5 has a toilet, but it did not matter to this mother or the two other guys who were seen peeing inside the metro earlier this May: one at Laojie station, and one inside a moving subway.

As usual, Weibo users were quick to speculate as to what happened: “She is not the little girl’s biological mother.” Another user Waymend added: “Her phone must be her biological child.”

It seems that for the expressed purpose of ignoring your child, there is in fact an app for that.

Related:

Photo: Yang Cheng Evening News

Haohao

Shenzhen Metro To Start Rolling Out Free Wi-Fi In July

Posted: 06/18/2014 4:20 pm

subway phone wifiThe Shenzhen Metro is set to become the first subway system in China to provide commuters with completely free WiFi access.

WiFi infrastructure has been finished on Shenzhen Metro Line 1 and 2 and will be ready for implementation during the last half of July, reported the official Weibo account of the Shenzhen Metro.

Testing is currently under way for WiFi access on Line 5, and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Photo: Caijing

Haohao

Shenzhen’s New Metro Line 11 To Be Longer Than First Planned

Posted: 06/11/2014 4:33 pm

subway workersThe Shenzhen City Railway Office announced that the future Shenzhen Metro Line 11 will be even longer than first planned, reports Southern Metropolis Report.

Line 11 will now be extended eastwards along Shenzhen South Boulevard to the Shanghai Hotel region. Upon completion, another public assessment will be made. If deemed suitable, Line 11 will then be extended further over to Luohu District.

Line 11 was originally planned as an express line from downtown Shenzhen to Airport Xinhang Station within a span of 40 minutes. It currently has a planned route 51 km long, consisting of 17 stations, and will reach an operating speed of 100 km/h.

RELATED: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou to Share Extended Subway Network 

The City of Guangzhou recently announced the construction of a new subway line that will connect Guangzhou South Railway Station with the Guangzhou Airport and allow commuters to cover that distance in 35 minutes.

These maps are now out of date, but they provide some scope of what the Shenzhen Metro may look like in the future. Here’s Line 11:

shenzhen line 11

And here’s an old map from 2012 that shows us what Lines 7, 9 and 11 will look like in 2016:

shenzhen metro line future map

Related:

Photo: Baidu, whtsgc, Shenzhen Daily

Haohao

Shenzhen Subway to be Fined RMB 2 Million If Trains Are Late

Posted: 05/20/2014 7:18 pm

We all hate waiting for the subway. Why is it taking so long? Did it get lost somewhere along the way? To make sure that the trains run on time, the City of Shenzhen is thinking of ways to ensure subway operators toe the line and maintain a punctual schedule.

An operating subway train that incurs long delays will be fined a maximum of RMB 2 millionreports the Yangcheng Evening News.

According to the “Proposal of Operation of Public Transportation for City of Shenzhen (Public Proposals)”, subway trains must adhere to a strict timetable and have a detailed procedure to follow if delays are encountered.

  • Any delays in operation, expected delays of five minutes or less, or when changing direction and exchanging front or rear trains, the subway operator should inform the onboard passengers and the public at large of the specific reason.
  • Any delays of eight minutes and up incurred by the subway operator should be promptly reported to their operations manager.
  • No subway operators can arbitrarily stop operation of the subway for any reason. If they have to stop, it must be done with the approval of the subway operations manager.
  • If long delays are expected, the city government should be asked for approval because of the huge impact a stopped train will have.

Exceptional delays will have equally heavy punishments with a fine levied of somewhere between RMB 50 and RMB 2 million.

While that may seem stiff, it’s worth remembering that making the trains run on time is the high bar for establishing an ideal society that works. As the policy itself says,

…if the obstruction cannot be promptly resolved, then operational service must be resumed as soon as possible by taking specific procedures such as to evacuate passengers, exchange passengers, limit the flow of passengers etc… the executive manager must issue the order to correct this problem, give warnings, or else fines from RMB 1,000 to 10,000 may be handed out.

Shenzhen Metro: staring at a smartphone only works for about an hour—get us to our destinations without delay!

Photo: 60 Malaysia

Haohao

You’re in Luck: Guangzhou Public Bathroom App Streaming Online

Posted: 05/14/2014 4:52 pm

The constant sound of rain falling upon Shenzhen has been too much for one male commuter who was photographed performing nature’s business at what appears to be Laojie Station in full view of an apathetic public.

Taken on the evening of May 12 by a Weibo user named MRxHarveyyyy, the pictures dampened the mood of dismayed netizens who expressed their outrage at this ill-mannered man who didn’t have the foresight to pee across the border in Hong Kong so that he could be defended with nationalistic fervor.

We’ve seen worse things happen on the Shenzhen Metro. And, we do appreciate this guy’s technique of splaying his feet in order to dig deep into the recesses of that corner. However, as had been brought up during online debate, the issue remains: where are all those public bathrooms? Why can’t I find a bathroom when I really need to use one?

guangzhou bathroom public app android

You’re in luck. Never again will you have to worry about who’s number one.

Over in nearby Guangzhou on May 12, the local chengguan showed off their proud new development, a bathroom-locater app. The app works by using your phone’s GPS and comparing the user’s position to a map of public bathrooms

The app is currently available for all Android models and can be accessed using the displayed QR code at the bottom of the page.

Finally: an app that tells you were to go so that you can sit down and use your phone some more. However, we do find that there to be a glaring flaw with this well-intentioned plan: that people are more prone to taking than giving—in this case, the object in question is “a crap”.

All the same, we can’t fault this idealistic plan. We hope many users will use this app so that more people will be able to use the filthy gutter toilets of public restrooms rather than the convenience of a nice, clean subway platform.

Or, if you don’t want to pay the fare to gain access to this Shenzhen station bathroom, you can always take your business outside.shenzhen subway bathroom

Related:
ExploreMetro Officially Launches Map for Shenzhen Subway
Explosion on Shenzhen Metro Caused by External Smartphone Battery
New Shenzhen “Pee Straight” Funnels Aim to Help You Avoid Costly Fine 

Photos: Shenzhen City Coast Society via Weibo, Yangcheng Evening Report via Weibo, Nandu via Weibo

guangzhou bathroom public app android

Haohao

ExploreMetro Officially Launches Map for Shenzhen Subway

Posted: 05/12/2014 3:51 pm

shenzhen exploremetro subway map app onlineExploreMetro has officially launched its online maps for the Shenzhen subway system.

An easy-to-use map that has been available for other major Chinese cities that include Guangzhou and Hong Kong, ExploreMetro maps have long been a favorite of ours for its simple interface and neat features.

Want to know how long it takes to get from the border at Futian Checkpoint all the way to Airport East Station? Connecting a starting point with an end destination tells us the length and cost for a journey: in this case, it takes 62 minutes by train at a cost of RMB 8.

Clicking upon a station (the bubble) and then clicking upon the appearing window will bring up additional information like maps of the local area and station exits, first and last trains, and details and photos of the surrounding area.

Available in both English and Chinese Mandarin, the ExploreMetro Shenzhen map is available online for web browsers and as a downloadable app for persuasions both Apple and Android.

We can’t wait to see what the subway make will look like when the Dongguan Metro will connect to both the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We suppose it will make for a lot of scrolling.

Related:
Shenzhen Metro to Connect with Dongguan and Huizhou
Shenzhen Metro to Introduce In-Train WiFi in June
Explosion on Shenzhen Metro Line 4 Caused by External Smartphone Battery
Guangzhou Subway Station Toilet Directory

Photo: ExploreMetro

Haohao

SZ Metro to extend operating hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day

Posted: 12/23/2013 7:00 am

Tempted to stay out late in Shenzhen on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Day? Shenzhen Metro has you covered, well until midnight anyway.

Tomorrow and on Wednesday January 1, Shenzhen’s subway trains will remain in operation until midnight to help deal with an expected increase in traffic, Nandu Daily reported on its microblog yesterday.

Similar policies will be introduced for the Spring Festival holiday early next year.

Haohao

1 dead after bizarre elevator and Metro accidents occur on the same day in SZ

Posted: 09/9/2013 6:48 pm

Yesterday saw two incidents that proved what a dangerous place Shenzhen can be.

A woman was killed after falling down an elevator shaft the same day as three people were squeezed out of a moving Metro train and abandoned in the tunnel.

The woman, a cleaner named Tan Hailan (42) who was from Sichuan, fell down an elevator shaft from the 16th floor to the 2nd after the door opened but the elevator hadn’t arrived, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. The tragedy, which took place in building A of Baoan District’s Fuyong Heping Community at around 2:46 p.m., is the latest in a number of accidents involving elevators in the city.

The elevator in Fuyong Heping Community, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

The cause is being investigated and two other elevators in the complex were closed for maintenance afterwards.

Just over an hour later, three passengers were thrown out onto the tunnel when the door opened on an overcrowded Metro train that was in motion. The incident occurred near Convention & Exhibition Centre, and although nobody was seriously injured, the passengers had to be treated for shock, Xinhua reported.

Mr. Wu said his wife had just come from Zhongshan and they were on a day out with some friends. At 6:05 p.m. they were on a crowded train between Gangxia and Convention & Exhibition Centre when Wu heard a shout of: “There’s been an accident. Help!”

This female passenger’s legs were shaking for hours after the incident and her clothes had been soiled, image courtesy of Xinhua.

The train stopped and Wu turned to see that one of the people that had been thrown out onto the tunnel was his wife. He got out to help her before the trains doors closed and it moved off. The three people standing outside promptly called the police and they had to cling to a fire hydrant while another train whizzed past before anybody could get to them.

South China Morning Post has more:

A Shenzhen Metro spokeswoman surnamed Tang told South China Morning Post on Monday the accident was triggered by a scuffle that broke out between two passengers in the carriage. The chaos prompted someone to pull the emergency cord that eventually brought the train to a stop.

It is yet to be explained why the driver opted to move away while they were still in the tunnel.

Haohao
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