Shanghai A to B

You know how annoying they are — illegal ads popping up in the wrong bits of the Metro (which, for those ads, is anywhere). That’s right. Illegal ads are making a comeback in the Shanghai Metro. It’s not clean stuff.

The Xinmin Evening News (page A10, August 13, 2009) has it that illegal ads are now all over the rage again on Line 2 trains. For a while, they were gone — and they’re now back again.

Your blogger has seen far more annoying things Beijing, where nary a Line 1 train just a few weeks ago were spared those annoying ads. We sure hope they’re gone ASAP.

There are now reports stemming from, in particular, the MetroFans community hinting at the opening of Exit 12 at the Century Avenue interchange, which is shared by Lines 2, 4 and 6 and will also be shared by Line 9 in late 2009.

Exit 12 brings direct access to the west side of Century Avenue (as in the avenue itself). You’ll be able to directly cross the avenue underground.

This exit is pretty close to the Line 9 bit of the station, so there’s, as always, the temptation to cross into Line 9. That bit, however, is reserved for later this year, when Phase II of Line 9 (Yishan Road — Middle Yanggao Road) opens up. Line 9 will the pass through two major interchanges — Xujiahui and Century Avenue.