ERTICO News: Shanghai Needs ITS for the EXPO 2010

Date: 31 October 2008

The EXPO 2010 World Exhibition will be held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31 with the theme of “Better City – Better Life”. The city of Shanghai has the ambition to take this as an opportunity to celebrate its new status in the 21st century as one of major economic and cultural centres in Asia and the world. The master plan for the EXPO is ready and shows that the event will take place along both sides of the Huangpu River. 70 million visitors in total and 400.000 visitors per day are expected. There is no doubt that Shanghai has to deal with the additional pressure on transport whilst already being one of the most congested cities in the world.

Like for other big events, particularly previous expos, ITS will play a crucial role in making EXPO 2010 a success. According to the current master plan, the site can be accessed by metro & light railway, temporary special buses, shuttle buses from P&R (park & ride) facilities, and water buses. The local authority is planning to set up 16 P&R sites to offer at least 8000 car parking spaces. Some of these P&R sites are temporary for the EXPO, whilst others will be permanent sites. Shuttle buses will run between the P&R car parks and the EXPO site. There will be 7 water bus stops along the Huangpu River where passenger boats will take visitors to the EXPO site. Traveller information services will be provided via websites, displays onpublic transport vehicles and at bus stops and kiosks at interchanges, as there is a great need for integrated traveller information services to support visitors throughout their trip using different transport modes.

Moreover, the majority of visitors will come from outside the Shanghai area, and therefore their journey will include various integrated transport modes in order to visit the site. Traffic on highways around Shanghai will experience significant increases in traffic flow during the EXPO period. Transport authorities in Shanghai and its surrounding areas plan to introduce more advanced ETC systems to manage the traffic flow efficiently.

ERTICO and its Partners are working together with the Shanghai local authorities to provide solutions for an integrated traffic information service, dynamic traffic guidance, advanced parking booking, e-ticketing and ETC systems.