Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai will focus its public transport development on the local metro network over the following five years, increasing the number of metro lines to 11 with a total length of 400 kilometers by 2010, according to the 11th Five-Year Plan publicized yesterday.
By 2012, the number of lines will have expanded to 13 from the current five, with a total length of 510 kilometers.
At that time, the city's extensive metro lines will be a major transport facility for local people, as more than 80 percent of downtown residents within the Inner Ring Road will be within 600 meters of a metro stop, according to Shen Rende, vice chief engineer with the Shanghai City Planning Administration.  Shen participated in the drafting of the metro blueprint.
The metro construction boom will commence this year, Shen disclosed.  The city will invest 15 billon yuan (US$1.9 billion) to build the westward extension of Line 2 and the northern extension of Line 3. The extensions will add a combined length of 145 kilometers to the network by the year's end.
Also this year, construction will start on four new lines which are scheduled to be operational in 2009, Shen added.