PVG to shanghai: MAGLEV or taxi ?
 

We will be landing at 2.30 PM on a thursday at PVG.

Our hotel is the Royal Meridien.

I would like to test the Maglev train but I wonder it it really makes sense:
Three people (incl. 5Y old girl), 3 huge suitcases + handluggage.

Would you recommend taking the Maglev or switching to taxi or hotel limo ?

Thanks

Not worth all the hassle with all the luggage and small child in my opinion. Much easier to just catch a cab (will be a tight fit with 3 persons and 3 big pieces of luggage) at PVG and take it direct to the Meridien. Cost will be around 100-120 RMB. Travel time on a weekday at 2.30pm will be around 45 minutes to an hour. You'll only save a few minutes taking the Maglev.

Hotel limo will be most comfortable, but also most expensive.

You can always leave early and catch the Maglev on the way out of Shanghai

I'd be willing to place a straight wager on the taxi in this case, in light of the following:

-minimal wait time for taxis at 230
-not much traffic, especially between the airport and Longyang Rd.
-in light of his baggage situation, the OP would spend at least 10 additional minutes (i.e. assuming boarding taxi = minute zero) simply walking to the Maglev station, purchasing tickets, and getting on a train
-then toss in the 10 minute average wait time (ranges between zero and 20 during peak schedule)
-at the Longyang Rd. part of the journey, tack on another 5 minutes to disembark and fetch taxi
-add another 3 minutes for the Longyang Rd. taxi to get to the road that leads to the bridge

--> all told, that's 28 minutes of idle time. Add in the 8 minute Maglev ride and you're already at 36 minutes.

From that point on, the Maglev OP and the taxi OP are on even footing (i.e. both are in taxis headed towards People's Square). However, taxi OP probably crossed the river at around the 32 minute mark, so he should win by a hair.

Naturally, if Maglev OP gets lucky on the Maglev schedule front, he would probably prevail..... but, based on my calculus, taxi OP has a 70% chance of winning.

But, as you intimated, the nominal time differential isn't so important in a city like SH (i.e. I've been in taxis that needed 40 minutes to travel two miles). Comfort is king.

Closing note: geilux: you should still try the Maglev at some point in your life. As an FTer, you would enjoy it for the sake of its very existence. But, if your companions are anything like my girlfriend, they will be less impressed.

Maglev vs Taxi
 

Maglev is NOT easy with luggage. Narrow, crowded escalators on both ends.

I did it three days ago and had to wait in a 30 minute taxi queue at Longyang Road. Maglev max speed at 4:30 pm was 301 km/hr.

430p certainly qualifies as peak hours, yet 301 is a non peak speed. If that's the general trend, then I'm afraid the rumors of taking it out of service once the subway is in place, could prove true.

BTW, between ~02 and 07, there were annual threads --promulgated by PRC authorities-- about the idea of extending to the Maglev to Hangzhou, which always ended with an excuse.

Longyang Road Station and environs are one huge construction site at the moment, probably preparing for the EXPO next year. Let's see what comes out of that.

I don't find the escalators too problematic at the PVG end and they are perfectly fine at the city end.

If I had a RMB for every time I heard that it was going to Hangzhou....

Slightly OT, have you heard about progress on the Beijing-Shenzhen (I think it's Shenzhen) line? I am working with a business in Handan in Hebei and they tell me that the Beijing-Handan journey (3hr 10min minimum on the Dong Che) will reduce to a little over an hour and service will start sometime in 2010. When I travel the route there doesn't seem to be much progress.

Whilst I seriously question the economic sanity of it (as infrastructure projects go it is a lot of bucks for not so much bang) the service would be a considerable improvement

nickyboy

^

Yes, find time to use the fastest public transportation in the world! It won't take long and you will regret it if you don't. (At least, I would have. ;))

OT: a friend of mine sold his used tickets on ebay for more than he had paid for them.

Agree...the Maglev is one of the Holy Sites of the FT religion, along with Udvar-Hazy, Monino, Boeing Field, Terminal A at DCA, the magic beer machine at NRT, and the beach at the end of SXM

Agree - have to try the Maglev at leas once:p

But in this case...go for the limo, much more comfortale especially when you have lots of lugguage.

One more thing for consideration; there is a lot of road construciton going on now and effects (most of the time) more in the direction towards the airport.

Why you dont do both ways; to city with limo and to airport with Maglev:D

Enjoy!

[QUOTE=moondog;12084817 Closing note: you should still try the Maglev at some point in your life. As an FTer, you would enjoy it for the sake of its very existence. But, if your companions are anything like my girlfriend, they will be less impressed.[/QUOTE]

Believe me or not, it's my daughter (5Y old) who keeps asking for the Maglev after she saw a report on TV :D

Anyhow, thank you all for your comments. We will take a taxi and maybe try the Maglev on the way back to the airport, on a Sunday in August with our plane leaving at 11:05 AM.
Or even better: I'll have my wife take a taxi with the luggage from the hotel to the airport, and daughter and Dad take the Maglev with no luggage :D:D:D

I'd make room in my schedule for the Maglev - but not on arrival with kids and luggage to get to the Meridien.

(As to high speed rail in China, I believe I saw some large signage announcing China had partnered with Alstom and Siemens to carry out the high speed rail plans. Undoubtedly, it will be a version of the European high speed rail, not maglev.)

I love it.