The Nanjing Metro rapid transit system has 128 stations. Nanjing Metro is a rapid transit system in the Chinese city of Nanjing, with stations in nine of the city's eleven districts. It is constructed, maintained, and operated by the Nanjing Metro Group Company. The results of Nanjing's 2015 Municipal Bureau of Statistics count showed that Nanjing Metro carried a total of 720 million rides that year. The idea for a metro system in Nanjing was first proposed in 1984 in the Nanjing Municipal People's Congress as a way to ease traffic concerns. In 1999, following the successful completion of the station's experimental phase, Nanjing became the fifth city after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to receive approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to begin work on a subway. Roughly one year later in December, construction on the initial 21.7 km (13.5 mi) line of the system broke ground. The system currently spans 257 km (160 mi) and its 128 stations are divided between urban lines and S-train lines. (Full list...)