We hope no one had to be anywhere important last night! Yan'an elevated road, among others, saw severe gridlock and huge traffic jams probably due to heavy rain in the afternoon and pre-holiday travel. Or, if you prefer (and we do), there's Shanghai Daily's theory that the gridlock was caused by people rushing to the store to cash in their mooncake coupons before they expired on the 9th! more ›

Escalators that were shut down around Shanghai over safety concerns following an escalator accident in Beijing last week were reopened today. Authorities are saying that closing the suspect escalators resulted in even more safety concerns from congestion. Says the Shanghai metro operator: "The escalator service suspension has dragged down passenger flow and forced the line to extend train intervals during rush hours, and therefore triggered new capacity problems and safety hazards." Four escalators were reopened in Xinzhuang station, and six will be reopened in the South Shanghai Railway and Xinzhuang stations by this weekend. No word yet on the remaining 12 closed escalators. more ›

Not only was Car Free Day in Shanghai neither car free or a day, it seems that the two-and-a-half hour traffic ban on Nanjing Xi Lu this morning probably just caused more congestion (and possibly more pollution thanks to stopped, but still running, cars) thanks to nobody even knowing it was Car Free Day. And who can blame them? The day has shrunk from an entire 12-hour ban on private cars in central business districts in 2007 to just six hours on fewer streets last year and now to the measly little attempt this time around. And while today's efforts may have been symbolic, transport planners apparently forgot to tell the media to widely publicize their mediocre, lame action. As a result, traffic was backed up along most nearby roads. Good going, guys. Source:Shanghai Daily more ›

The Hong Kong chief executive, Donald Tsang, says that the Chinese government is committed to a plan for letting the country's mainland investors trade shares on the city's stock exchange. more ›

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The free Metro Express commuter paper has a big front-page spread today on the People's Square metro interchange make-over. The headline announces that "People's Square Three Line Interchange Hall To Open By Year's End", which is old news to those who have been following the progress of the new metro Line 8. Instead, the reason for the story being published today is that the Shanghai Rail Transport Construction Headquarters just released a bunch of numbers on the new station, as well as a map of the planned station layout. Among the numbers: more ›

This week saw some interesting announcements regarding Shanghai's metro system. First off, Metro Line 4's circle closes this year: more ›

Lots of juicy transportation news today: more ›

Browsing the Ditiezu.com (Subway-ers) BBS, we came across some interesting tidbits: more ›

We're a bit confused here: We just read a report (in Chinese) that says 70 mayors of Chinese cities have signed agreements that make World Car Free Day -- September 22 -- somewhat official. However, it seems that Beijing tried this in 2005 in an attempt to meet "blue sky" goals. Supposedly Chengdu was the first Chinese city back in 2001 to try to do something for WCFD. After the signing of this agreement, most of China's big cities, such as Chongqing, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc. are on board. Not only are they going to encourage more people to walk, bike and use public transit, they might even carve out a no-car zone in parts of the cities. more ›

EngagingChina introduced us to TrafficCast China, a traffic information system that launched in Shanghai this month. From the press release: more ›

Budget travelers rejoice! Starting today, Civil Aviation Administration of China has partially lifted a four year ban on all domestic red eye flights, says a Tom.com story (in Chinese). The rule was put in place four years ago due to public safety concerns. Since then, thanks to a booming economy, domestic air travel volume has soared and supply hasn’t kept pace. (Even though China seems to be buying 20 planes from either Boeing or Airbus every other day.) Major airport hubs have reported record numbers of travelers every quarter and are now at a saturation point. During holiday seasons, air tickets to popular travel destinations are hard to come by and are often extremely expensive. Reinstating red eye flights would ameliorate the congestion and provide customers with even cheaper tickets, a further 20 percent discount off the listed price. With May Day holiday just around the corner, this is welcoming news indeed to all would-be travelers. more ›

We have no idea, but it's happening, according the subscription-only South China Morning Post (via the World Business Council for Sustainable Development): more ›