Guangzhou Metro

The Guangzhou Metro or GZMTR is the metro system of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province of China. The system is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and it was the fourth metro system to be introduced in Mainland China, after that of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The city has 10 million inhabitants and is situated in the south of the country near Hong Kong. Construction of a subway network was approved in 1989 and was started in 1993.Construction began in 1993 and the first line opened in 1997. Currently, there are 5 lines in operation with 88 stations over 150 km of tracks. The Guangzhou Metro delivered 601 million rides in 2008 and set a record of 2.47 million rides on May 1, 2008. The metro system has 3 lines under construction with 4 more planned. Total operational capacity is scheduled to grow to 190.8 km by 2010 and exceed 600 km in the long term.
Guangzhou’s metro system boasts of convenience, fast and cheap. It is the most convenience way to get through the city’s heavey trafic. It is very easy to buy tickets of metro as well. (Tickets and fares) .

Line 1The Line 1 is made up of 16 stations. It is a very important vehicle to go to Guangzhou East Railway Station. (18.5 km). Apart from Kengkou and Xilang, all stations in Line 1 are underground.
June 28, 1997: Xilang – Huangsha
June 28, 1999: Huangsha – Guangzhou East Railway Station

Line 2:(New Line 2: JiaheWangJiang-Guangzhou South Railway Station)
There are 24 stations along the Subway Line 2. JiaheWangJian to Guangzhou South Railway Station. All stations in Line 2 are underground.
If you are a businesses man who going to join the canton fair ,I want to recommend you by metro in Guangzhou .Because it is definitely a fast way to get to both Canton Fair Pazhou Complex and Liuhua Complex by Metro Line 2 directly, especially during the peak hours. The Station Name of Canton Fair Pazhou Complex is “Pazhou” (Line 2), the Station Name of Canton Fair Liuhua Complex is “Yuexiu Park” (Line 2).
December 29, 2002: Sanyuanli – Xiaogang
June 28, 2003: Xiaogang – Pazhou (Part of Line 8: 1st Phrase)
December 26, 2005: Pazhou – Wanshengwei (Part of Line 8: 2nd Phrase)

Line 3:The Line 3 is formed with one north-south-ward main rail and a northeastward branch. On the main rail, there are 13 stations and its branch includes 5 stations.It is a 36-kilometer Y-shaped line connecting Guangzhou East Railway Station (Line 1) and Tianhe Coach Terminal to Panyu Square. All stations in the line are underground. It will in the future also be extended to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
December 26, 2005: Guangzhou East Railway Station – Kecun
December 30, 2006: Kecun – Panyu Square
December 30, 2006: Tianhe Coach Terminal – Tiyu Xilu

Line 4:Starting from Chebeinan in the north to Jinzhou in the south, Line 4 boasts 16 stations in total, two of which are under construction – Guanqiao and Qingsheng stations. It will eventually run from the Guangzhou Science Town to Nansha. It currently starts at Wanshengwei (formerly Pazhouta), the interchange with Line 2. The total length is 68.96 km (as at November 2007 in operation). The section of the line from Wanshengwei to Xinzao are built at underground, while that from Xinzao to Jinzhou are built at elevated track.
December 26, 2005: Wanshengwei – Xinzao
December 30, 2006: Xinzao – Huangge (except Guanqiao, Qingsheng)
June 28, 2007: Huangge – Jinzhou
December 28, 2009: Chebeinan – Wanshengwei

Line 5:The Line 5 is an artery connecting the eastern and western Guangzhou and passing Guangzhou Railway Station. It takes about 1 hours to run through the 24 stations. It was starts at Jiaokou and runs to Wenchong in the Huangpu District. It was completed in 2009 with stations at Jiaokou, Tanwei (connection with Line 6), Zhongshanba Lu, Xichang, Xicun, Guangzhou Railway Station (Connection with Line 2), Xiaobei, Taojin, Ouzhuang (Connection with Line 6), Zoo, Yangji (Connection with Line 1), Wuyangcun, Zhujiang New Town (Connection with Line 3), Liede, Tancun, Yuancun, Keyun Lu, Chebeinan (Connection with Line 4), Dongpu, Sanxi, Yuzhu, Dashadi, Dashadong and Wenchong.
The metro trains use Chinese mandarin, Cantonese and English to report station names. It is very helpful for the English-speaking passengers. Metro trains arrive at stations every about 3 minutes during the peak hour and every about 7 minutes after 21:00.It is very efficient and convenient to the major areas of Guangzhou City by Metro. Line 1, Line and line 5 run through the most area of Guangzhou city.

Line 8The first section of Line 8 opened on 2002 as part of Line 2. The Xiaogang Station – Wanshengwei Station section transferred operations beginning 25 September 2010 to Line 8. Line 8 currently runs from Changgang Station to Wanshengwei Station; it was originally intended to terminate at Fenghuang Xincun Station but due to issues with the cooling station at Shayuan Station, the section from Fenghuang Xincun to Baogang Avenue Station remains unopened. Current interchange stations along the line are Changgang with Line 2, Kecun with Line 3 and Wanshengwei with Line 4. Ambitious plans intend for Line 8 to cross the Pearl River by 2012, reaching Culture Park. And in 2015-2020 time frame, it is expected to extend to Baiyun Lake in the north and Hualong in the east.

Getting Around Guangzhou

It's quite easy to get around the city, as it's well connected by public transportation. Most people in Guangzhou don't have a car and rely on public transportation, which is good -- ensuring efficient public transportation network -- and not good at the same time -- you'll need to compete with the locals, as public transportation are usually very busy and crowded.  

As a foreigner trying to explore the city, especially for the first time, you need to be realistic. Guangzhou, like many other Chinese cities, is not very foreigner-friendly about providing English road signs. Despite efforts to make signs bilingual in recent years, they remain little help for foreigners. However key tourist attractions are reasonably signposted.

By bus

Especially because of the language barrier, using the bus. isn't recommended. All bus stop names and routes are in Chinese, making it almost impossible for foreigners to get directions. And the audio instructions are in Chinese, so it's hard to know when to get off. In addition, it's usually crowded, and pickpockets are common. Finally, a lot of streets in Guangzhou are one-way, so it's unlikely you'll find the return bus on the same street where you got off.

Having said that, if you're certain about the bus route (e.g., if staff in the hotel you stay at give you clear instructions on which bus to take and which stop to get off), you will find using the bus convenient, as the bus network is very well-constructed. Buses are very cheap too. Most routes cost RMB 2, some at RMB 1. Majority of the buses are air-conditioned, but the ACs are likely to be off during the winter months for obvious reasons.

If you do choose to take a bus, be aware of the strong possibility of pickpockets. Also, you'll need to have the exact fare, e.g., RMB 1 or RMB 2 in notes or coins--no change will be given on the bus. There's no need and thus nowhere to buy the bus ticket, as all you need to do is to drop the money to the box by the bus driver's seat when you get on the bus. 

For the bus routes, you can browse the following website -- in Chinese:

http://www.gz-bus.com/chaxun/

By Metro

The Metro is very convenient, especially during the peak hours (7-9am, 5-8pm) to and from the city centre.  

Line 1 started running in 1998, and there are currently four lines for Guangzhou Metro up running as in the end of 2008. Constructions are undergoing up to Line 9 by 2010. Metro stations can be easily identified with the Guangzhou Metro's ram-horn-shaped logo (see example here: http://www.gzmtr.com/qygk/gsjs/sjxx/ ).

Guangzhou Metro cost in average RMB 2 per three stops. For the main tourist attractions and markets, you won't need more than RMB 4 one way. To buy the Metro ticket, you can either get it from the ticket booth at the Metro stations or from the automatic ticket machines nearby. The ticket machines are bilingual, as the route maps and audio instructions on the train.

Metro trains are clean and well ventilated, and is popular with the locals.

The official website for Guangzhou Metro is http://www.gzmtr.com/en/, from which you can find routes, time tables and fares.

By taxi

Getting around in Guangzhou by taxi is also very popular with the locals as the fare is rather reasonable. Currently the fare is RMB 2.6 per kilometre, but the minimum fare is RMB 7 (for 2.3 km) plus RMB 1 standard petrol surcharge, which is a local way to tackle the surge of petrol price since 2006. So don't be surprised that the taxi driver asks you for RMB 13 when the metre is actually RMB 12.

Within the city, it's 99.9% the case using the metres. In fact, taxi drivers will be severely fined if they don't use the metre. The only exception would be going to and from the airport, although it's rare too unless you're going from the airport to outskirt of Guangzhou or other Peral River Delta cities. Usually it costs about RMB 100 from the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to downtown such as Garden Hotel/Huan Shi Lu, including RMB 15 for the airport highway charge.

Within the city, if you get around by taxi, it's best to have your destination written down by someone in Chinese, because almost no taxi drivers speaks English. Write it down as specific as possible.

You'll notice the taxis are in different colours, yellow, red, blue, green and champagne. The fare is all the same but, as locals would tell you, the drivers aren't! The locals will tend to choose the taxis in yellow as this company's drivers are all locals so allegedly they know the roads better, e.g. short cuts, whereas other taxi companies' drivers may come from other part of China and may be taking you for unnecessary distance sometimes -- of course, mostly unintended. So, if you believe the locals, your sequence of taxi choice would be: go for the yellow ones if you can -- they're very popular!; if not, then the blue ones; then the red ones; your last choice is the green ones. Believe it or not!

A final tip for taking the taxi is always ask for the receipt from the driver before you get off the taxi. Just in case you leave something behind in the taxi, you'll have the number -- taxi number and customer service number to trace the taxi.

By bicycle

It's not  feasible for tourists, as you won't find places letting bicycles very easily. Also, contrary to the trend in many Western countries, they're reducing the use of bicycles here in China, at least it's true in Guangzhou. Bicycle riders usually find themselves in a disadvantage position on the road as buses often occupied the already very narrow bicycle lane, and following the cars and their waste gas so close isn't the most pleasant  bicycle riding in Guangzhou. Another factor that may put you off for riding a bicycle in the city is bicycle thieves which are not uncommon at all. And, lack of secure or guarded places to park your bicycles doesn't help either!

By foot

You can try but it's not advised, as the tourist attractions are not close to each other.

It's however a good idea to explore the city by foot in certain pedestrianised streets, such as Beijing Lu, Shang Xia Jiu Lu, both being shopping streets.