Guangzhou metro and public transport
The metro is very modern with glass walls with automatic glass doors at all stations. It was inaugurated in 1997, as the 4th metro system in mainland China. In contrary to Shenzhen, you don't have to scan your bag any time you enter the train area in Guangzhou. It can be complicated to buy a day card if you don't speak Cantonese, but once you have it after a lot of misunderstandings, it is very easy and extremely cheap to travel anywhere in the city. The staff at our hotel was very nice and helped us with that. There are 8 lines and the trains arrive as often every 3 minutes daytime, still they are very often overcrowded!
Buses are also modern and there are many lines, but generally overcrowded. The bus stations in Guangzhou are very special, since they are very long with a stop from each line, and there are gates with a ticket counter that has to be passed to reach the waiting area.
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