Six new transfer hubs linking the Metro with the bus network will be constructed this year, Shanghai engineers said yesterday.

They are among more than 100 such hubs scheduled to be built to encourage residents to use public transport instead of private cars over the next few years, they said.

The hubs will consist of large squares outside Metro entrances that will hold several bus stops.

However, the government has not revealed the cost of the project or any resident relocation details.

"The purpose of building the transport hubs is to save time for pedestrians," said Xu Daofang, an official with the Shanghai Transport Engineering Society.

Four of the six transfer hubs will be built in downtown venues - at the Hongkou Football Stadium, Yishan Road Metro Station, Dongchang Road in Pudong and Jungong Road near the Middle Ring Road.

The remaining two will be built in the suburbs: a Metro-bus transfer hub in rural Songjiang District and Gangcheng Road Station of Metro Line No. 6 in Pudong.

In addition to the present Metro Line No. 3, the Hongkou Football Stadium, a major transfer hub in northern Shanghai, will have a station for Metro Line No. 8 and six bus terminal stations.

The Yishan Road Metro Station, which is already served by Metro Line No. 3 and No. 4, will get a bus terminal square holding seven stations. Next year, a new station for Metro Line No. 9, which links Songjiang to downtown, will be added.

Some of the 18 bus terminal stations - including those for buses No. 49, No. 42 and No. 120 - within an existing transfer hub near Shanghai Stadium are likely to be relocated to the Yishan Road Metro Station.

The locations of the future hubs have not yet been revealed.

(Shanghai Daily September 1, 2006)