Metro card, WeChat, Alipay, cash. And, I think ctrip used to sell tickets... maybe still does, but it's not an especially exciting travel product so they don't go out of their way to plug it

There used to be a #3 that went to Xujiahui. You don't change bus numbers just because a route is cancelled as otherwise people might end up on the wrong bus.

And it looks like #2 still survives in the form of the night bus (11pm til 45 minutes after last flight at PVG) which goes past Jingansi before making its way to SHA.

The bus is way more expensive than the metro.

Oh, I'm aware. I was living in Shanghai when that route was running. Just wanted to inject a little bit of humor into the post (plus I imagine this is what people would feel if they were new to the area and reading the signs).

Some others I remember:

• Line 4 was to Hongkou, Line 5 was to Shanghai Railway Station
• Line 6 was to Zhongshan Park area
• Line 7 was to Shanghai South Railway Station
• Line 8 was to Nanhui (wasn't very long lived)

I used to always take the Maglev and metro from PVG to avoid all the taxi scammers, at least in the "old days" when you paid for everything in cash.
I have not tried Didi yet, but I understand you actually select the route and set the price upfront, which significantly reduces the chance of getting scammed, also it finds a "random" nearby taxi?
But considering that there is a "official" taxi queue at PVG, how does that work? Does anyone have any experience with that?

Follow-up question is if anyone has tried the Didi app that exists within the Alipay app?

Not the answer you're looking for directly, one of the forum locals for Shanghai will no doubt offer words of wisdom, but this thread is also worth a read Shanghai ground transportation thread

The Didi appli (and the mini appli within Alipay 支付宝) give you a price quote which is close, but not guaranteed. Sometimes its a few yuan more, sometimes a little mess. At the end of the ride you'll be shown the actual price and pay thru the appli.

At every major chinese aeroport, there is an area for taxis, and an area for ride-hailing applis like Didi. The taxis will be closer to the terminal, for the ride-hailing pick-up it is usually a little further away.

I use exclusively the mini appli within Alipay because I can input my destination in English and won't have a language problem with the driver. Because if you say "Holiday Inn Express" to the driver, sometimes they only know the chinese name for the h�tel and the Didi appli is only in 中文.

Thanks, this is very helpful information.

Personally, I'm anti ride-sharing apps upon arrival (only) from airports in China. There are surely some exceptions, but my position is well supported at both Shanghai airports.

Sure, you will save around 20% v taxi, and your odds of being ripped off (e.g fast meters or longer than necessary routes) are very low, but the pick up process/location is sufficiently annoying to nullify these upsides (IMO).

Others disagree with me, and have compelling arguments, especially for far away destinations (e.g 20% off of 500 justifies the hassel).

I'm even more opposed to anything that entails using Maglev.
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I completely agree. The hassle of walking to the parking structure and looking for your Didi is not worth it for me. Nowadays the taxi queues are basically nonexistent. Plus, I've honed my method of not getting ripped off -- as soon as I get in the taxi, I tell them "XXX address -- it's 50km exactly." That way they know I'm not a sucker.

So where exactly is the typical pickup location at PVG? Sound like a long trek, lol

Would it be better to take the metro partways towards downtown then catch a Didi from one of the metro stations further in instead?

I haven't been to Shanghai, but as points of r�f�rence :

At CTU, the ride hailing area is in one of the parkings across from the terminal, cross the main pick up area for taxis, walk along the side of a lot, about 200m from the a�rogare.

At CAN T1, it's in one of the parkings. So we took a lift to the passerelle, walked another 200m to the area.

In both case, about 5-10mn walk. So depends on your tol�rance for walking with bagages.

They've changed the drill several times, presumably to make it less inconvenient. I don't know the current pickup location(s) because I stopped caring about it after two or three experiences.

Your subway hybrid plan could be viable because getting in motion on line 2 is arguably even faster/easier than the taxi queues (I haven't tried the new train yet), but you need to be really strategic about where to disembark.

I will point out something that we've talked about in the other thread; some transfers entail long walks. Off the top of my head, Lujiazui, Nanjing East, People's Square, Nanjing West, JA Temple, and Zhongshan Park are varying degrees of bad, and Century Ave is the only line 2 transfer station I would rate as "good".

If you just want to get off of Line 2 and grab a taxi or car via an app, I'd forget about the stations in the boondocks, and would at least try to get across the river (unless my destination was in Pudong).

You might want to look at the airport train thread to see if any of those stations are viable for you. It's a lot faster than line 2, but the route runs far to the south between PVG and the river before cutting north towards SHA.

None of these approaches are really better than taxi all the way, but you will save money, and if your destination happens to be really close to a subway station, you're in good shape.

After you figure out where you want to stay, you can post again in one of these threads, and we can evaluate specific options for you.

Thanks for the tips.
My destination is in the Kangqiao industrial area in Pudong. Normally I would just take the metro all the way to my hotel in Puxi but I am arriving quite early in the morning and promised to visit the office first.
Myself and other colleagues have had bad experiences with the taxi drivers at PVG in the past, I think they get angry because of the shorter trip to Kangqiao when they expect a lucrative ride to other side of the river. I was hoping to use Didi to alleviate that.
I am now consdering to just take the metro as far as I can get, transferring to line 11, and then take a Didi from there.

In that case, you probably wouldn't even find any driver from Didi (or other ride-hailing services) to respond to your request for a ride, at least until you agree to pay significantly more for it. It may still be worth it though as the cost would still be so much lower than most other places outside China.