In megacities worldwide, subway systems have become a prevailing transport mode for residents' daily travel. The expansion of subway networks has given people more route choices and increased the appeal of online maps for route selection. Since few studies have investigated route choices across the entire transport network based on online maps, we introduce the concept of parallel routes with a network analysis approach. Based on that, we offer a comparative analysis between the Beijing and Shanghai subway networks with a network analysis approach combining an online map application programming interface (API). Moreover, we investigate to what extent route choices by subway can be explained by built environment factors within the metro station buffer. The results indicate that online maps do not always offer reasonable route choices due to the complex topology of subway networks. Empirical analysis shows that route choices of the Beijing and Shanghai subway networks follow a distance decay law: the closer to the city center the metro station, the more parallel the routes. Compared with Beijing, the subway network in Shanghai provides more route choices within more parallel routes within the same distance. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between route choices and land-use mixture around metro stations. In general, our findings are useful for promoting transit-oriented development in megacities.
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