More Expo news is coming from this blog. I am reporting 3 km away from the Shanghai 2010 Expo site.
Expo Taxi
I am not a big fan of this idea – to manufacture 4000 special taxi just for the Expo. My proposed plan is to leverage the current taxi system, and expand it. If the standard is not good enough for the expo, why not take the opportunity increase the standard?
However, when I see the taxi, I am still impressed. It looks nice. The 3600 Volkswagen Tourans look much better than I thought. Hmmm…. That is the good side of involving a big private company – Shanghai Volkswagen instead of everything done by the government (look at the advertisement for Expo in the Times Square in New York!) Good PR for VW.
© Jian Shuo Wang
I was luck to catch one of the first 100 taxi this morning, but I am not luckier to get a full shot of it.
Since no public vehicles can enter the Expo site, including taxis, they issued license to these special taxis to enter the site. Question: will the 4000 taxi serve the 400K people per day? Let’s still bet public transportation like Metro, and bus.
Expo at Night on April 1
The Expo lighting work is finished. From the South Pudong Road, you will see part of the Expo site.
© Jian Shuo Wang
With the laser lights with all colors shooting into the sky, Expo site at night is amazing. I asked “What is the meaning of an Expo?” With the lights, and the scene, I just fell an Expo is wonderful (if we put aside all the cost related to it aside for a moment).
Reward for Shanghai Citizen
Although today is not a good day to announce anything formal, the party secretary of Shanghai (who ranks higher than mayor in the Chinese power hierarchy) announced today that every household in Shanghai will get a free expo ticket, and a public transportation card with 200 RMB in it to show the appreciation from the government for the support and understanding.
That sounds good – a good and friendly move from the government.
Update April 2, 2010
Saw another Expo taxi at Gongcheng Road near Jiaotong University.
I think only real Shanghainese will get the ticket and the transport card? Or will all residents (including foreigners) get it?
I saw the new taxi also today, just in front of me. I like the sign ‘ TAXI ‘ on the two sides, easy to be recognized. Besides, it’s hatchback, spacious for traveler.
I saw on the news that they have BMW 5 Series as police patrol car during the Expo. Is that necessary?