Metro, Guangzhou

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Comparing to the metro system in Shenzhen, Guangzhou's is a lot outstanding for its convenience, but it is not as new as the one in SZ. GZ metro practically covers all of main touristic places including Shamian island, Martyr shrine, Yuexio Park ,and Guangxiao temple. But please note that the system can be extremely crowded on the weekends. Yet, this is the simplest way for a first time visitor to move around in the city.

The Guangzhou Metro first started operation in 1997 and the stations look like they're modelled on the ones that I had just come from in Hong Kong. I used it when I first arrived in the city as Line 1 linked the Guangzhou East Railway Station (where I arrived on the train from Hong Kong at) with Huang Sha, the station for Shamian Island where I stayed during my time in the city. All-in-all, there are 4 lines although more are planned over the next few years. The service is very clean and efficient and I used it several times during my stay.

Single tickets are bought at a kiosk at every station or by the automatic ticket vending machines. Like most cities in Asia, fares are based on distance. Fares range from RMB2 (a couple of stations) to RMB12 (the longest journeys). The ticket itself is a black contactless (RF) plastic token that you wave over a sensor on the top of the barrier.

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Guangzhou Subway is quite good and getting to places of interest, shopping, food outlets is very easy. Fares are reasonable.

The newest train has route map within the carriages and lights indicators on the route map to show the location of the train in relation to the station and the tunnel. Great works. The older train doesn't have this feature.

Addition of subway screen door at the platform level is on-going in some stations but is place is very neat and tidy without obstructions.

Tokens can be purchased through ticket vending machines with instructions in English and Chinese. You tap the token on the turnstile to enter the paid area and slot the token into the exit barrier to exit the station.

At the exit point, some lights doesn't light up when you slot in the token and you would have to pay attention to listen for the blip sound in the mist of all other blip sound from other turnstile.

All exit point at labelled with station's direction boards in English and Chinese.

Good mode of transportation if you are travelling in group of more than 4 persons.

Gong Yuan Qian is probably the most important station in the Guangzhou Metro System, being at the axis of metro lines 1 and 2, which traverse central Guangzhou... It is a big station, but certainly not nearly as big as Ch?telet station in Paris. It is very modern and well organized, and is also situated next to many of the shopping areas of central Guangzhou such as the north end of Beijing Lu.

Guangzhou has a fantastic and very modern metro system, with four lines currently open, as seen in the map shown in the photo here. Some stations are still under construction. All signage is in both Chinese and English, at both ticket machines and platforms. Tokens are used instead of actual paper tickets but the concept is the same. If you need change to buy a token at the machine you can get it from a person in a ticket booth, but they don't sell the tokens in the booth, they just give change.

Guangzhou already has a good subway system, and it will get better as it's expanded.
It's very useful if your hotel is located next to a subway station. I always stay at a hotel located next to Ximenkou station, just one stop away from where the two main lines intersect.
When riding the subway it is best to use the one yuan coins. You should always at least have some 10 yuan notes with you which can also be used in the token machines. Most rides are either 2 or 3 yuan depending on whether you go a distance of 3 or 6 stations. I seldom paid more than 4 yuan to go anywhere I wanted to visit in Guangzhou, and that's a nice little savings over taxis which start at 7 yuan.
The subway is still relatively new, clean and well maintained. The frequency is about 3 minutes and it's not impossible to find a seat.
Popular tourist stops accesible by subway line include Chen Jia Ci (Chen Family Academy) and Yuexiu Park. On rainy days the subway is wonderful for reaching underground shopping emporiums. My favorite one is located at Martyrs Memorial Garden (Lie Shi Ling Yuan), where there is also a JUSCO supermarket that attracts local celebrities.

Very fast and a trains comes from 2-6 minutes apart, depending on the time. All the stations have english on them and they are very easy to use. There is 2 lines right now which cover a good size of gz, soon there is another line opening.

In order to get from central Guangzhou to the Fangcun district (just southeast of the city center) you'll need to go across the Pearl River somehow. The most expensive and roundabout choice is to take a taxi. Or, as shown in the map here, you could take the metro. But if you are in Shamian Dao or the Huangsha area, instead of paying 2 yuan for the metro, you can take a ferry across the water for only .50 yuan!