The Yan'an Road Medium Capacity Bus Transit System () is a bus rapid transit system operating within Shanghai, China. The network consists of a main route, a partial route and four branch lines, with the main route running between East Yan'an Road & The Bund in Huangpu District and Shenkun Road Bus Terminal in Minhang District via Yan'an Road. The system is operated by Shanghai Bus No.3 Public Transport Co., Ltd., and began trial operations on 1 February 2017.
Routes
The system consists of the following routes, all of which charge a flat fare of either 1RMB or 2RMB:
Route 71 (71路), running between East Yan'an Road & The Bund and Shenkun Road Bus Terminal. Partial route 71 (71路区间), running between North Huangpi Road and Shenkun Road Bus Terminal. Route 1250 (1250路), also known as Branch Line 1 (71路支线1), running between Dingxi Road and Shuangliu Road & Tianshan Road, and connects to the main route at Dingxi Road and Kaixuan Road stations. Route 1251 (1251路), also known as Branch Line 2 (71路支线2), running between Kaixuan Road and Shuicheng Road & Xianxia Road, and connects to the main route at Kaixuan Road station. Route 748 (748路), also known as Branch Line 3 (71路支线3), running between Jiuting and Shanghai Zoo (Hongjing Road), and connects to the main route at Hangdong Road, Hangxin Road and Wubao Road stations. Route 71T2 (71路T2线), formerly route 835, running from Shenkun Road Bus Terminal and looping at Hongqiao transportation hub.
History
The construction of the system began in 2016. The line was designed to use trolleybuses, with overhead lines covering 80% of the main line. The system will use a dedicated bus lane under the Yan'an Elevated Road, as well as separate traffic lights from other traffic along Yan'an Road. Most stops are placed in the middle of the road, with an average of 730 metres between stops.
The system officially began trial operations on February 1, 2017. It reused the route number 71, which followed a similar path from Huangpu to Changning districts along Yan'an Road. The original route 71 was shortened on the same day and renumbered route 1250.
In May 2017, the operator noted that it was considering the possibility of using buses with doors on both sides in order to allow commuters to seamlessly transfer to route 71. These plans were put in place in December the same year, with routes 1250 and 1251 joining the medium capacity network as branch lines and becoming the first lines in Shanghai to use these buses.
In addition to the branch lines, in August 2017, route 835 opened as a connecting line to the rest of the network, in order to connect commuters between the medium capacity transit system and Hongqiao International Airport. This line would later be renamed route 71T2 in 2019.
On December 28, 2019, route 748 was rerouted and joined the network as Branch Line 3, connecting the network to Jiuting and Shanghai Zoo.
In February 2022, it was announced the partial route 71 will receive a further extension westbound to Hongqiao Business District, adding 11 stops to the route. This extension will take place on 3 November 2023.
Fleet
Since the introduction of the system, the entire network uses a fleet of low floor Yutong buses. The main route 71 and the Partial route 71 uses articulated and rigid trolleybuses respectively, with doors located on the left side of the bus only, while the branch lines and connecting lines use rigid battery electric Yutong E12 buses with doors on both sides to be able to stop at both regular stations and stops along the network.
The buses feature a silver body, a black-painted front and red stripes running through the fuselage. They are equipped with a wheelchair bay and LCD passenger information display, with announcement systems in Standard Chinese, Shanghainese and English.
Stations
This is a list of stations along the Yan'an Road Medium Capacity Bus Transit System. This list only contains the stops along the main & partial routes 71, and do not contain the stops for the branch lines. The main line is 17.5 km long, while the partial line is 15.5 km long.
All buses stop at stations labelled ● allow both alighting and boarding. Stops labelled as ■ are for boarding only, while those labelled as ▲ are for alighting only. If the stop is labelled as ｜, the line does not serve that stop.