In most of the years that I was living in Shanghai, I never used those public transportation cards. The first 2-3 years I travelled around by taxi (mainly because at the time, I thought it was affordable and convenient and also because I seldom left the dorm). After that, I decided to get myself a card and I was very lucky because when that happened, I was issued one (at the counter) that was very pretty. It’s white and has Chinese illustrations:
They have all kinds of cards available and resellers sell cards with all kinds of designs right outside the subway stations. So you can get any kind you like. Although it’s something I never really dared to do, so when my twin sister came to visit me in Shanghai I got her one from the counter. This time though, they gave me the generic orange design:
Public transportation cards in Shanghai can be used for all kinds of transportation, especially the subway, taxis and buses. As far as I know, you get a discount when you use that as opposed to using cash. These cards can be recharged at the ticket counters or those recharge machines using cash or ATM cards.
I just visited their website and they’ve got something like “online top-up” so I’m guessing you can now recharge these cards online using ATM cards or probably your mobile phone credit…that’s how it usually works.
Here are some more beautiful designs they’ve issued:
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