About 250,000 visitors are expected at the China international Import Expo on Friday and Saturday, according toShanghai's traffic authority.

Members of the public will joinprofessional visitors for the last two days of the event. Traffic officials said many people would be taking the Metro to get to the National Exhibition and Convention Center and evening rush hour might overlap with crowds leaving or arriving at the center.

Metro officials are taking precautions.

On Friday morning, entrances 6 and 8 at the East Xujingstation on Line 2 will only allow passengers to exit while entrance 9 will only allow passengers to enter. Entrance 4 will open at 12pm for people entering the station only and there will be no security checks.

Passenger flow will be monitored at East Xujing, Zhuguang Road and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station.

Twenty more attendants will be added at East Xujingstation, bringing the total to 50, to help passengers with tickets and directions.

If waiting times at East Xujing reach 40 minutes, passengers will be redirected to Zhuguang Road.

The Metro will issue a red alert if waiting time exceeds an hour and shuttle buses will take passengers toZhongchun Road station on Line 9.

Eight shuttle bus services will connect 22 hotels across the city with the expo venue. Buses will depart from hotels between 8:30am and 9am, with tickets costing 20 yuan (US$2.88).

Other shuttle buses will take visitors from the East Xujing transport hub and Shanghai Hongqiao CBD near Hongqiao Railway Station.

From 3pm to 7pm, a temporary extension of bus route 71 will be taking visitors leaving the event back toPeople’s Square.

From the P1 parking lot, three shuttle bus routes will take visitors to Metro stations on Lines 9, 12 and 13.

Taxis will line up at the P5 parking lot to pick up passengers from 3pm to 8pm.