A temporary shuttle bus service from entrance 8 of Metro Line 2 to the north plaza of National Exhibition and Convention Center carried more than 7,000 visitors to the expo on Wednesday morning. From 7:58am to 11:30am, there were 144 runs.

Shanghai Jiushi Bashi Group had little time to prepare as it only received the order from the city’s traffic authority for the service at 9:30pm on Tuesday. All buses were parked at a lot on Tianshan Road and most drivers had gonehome.

The bus company urgently mobilized 12 drivers, many of them coming back to the lot from home. They drove the buses to the P1 parking lot outside the NECC and by the time they finished a road survey, it was already midnight.

The shuttle buses will continue taking visitors from the Metro station to the NECC every morning until the expo ends, the bus company said.