Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Partygoers may resort to other transportation than taxis to head to tonight's Christmas Eve celebrations, as the city's key cab service operators said that half of their fleets of more than 40,000 taxis have already been booked.
By yesterday afternoon, Shanghai Dazhong Taxi Co Ltd had received more than 1,500 reservations for this evening's service, said Xia, with the company's calling center.
He said the center will add another 12 percent to its staff to meet tonight's requests and will also add 30 more phone lines to its existing 120.
About 30-40 percent of cab seekers may find no taxis during the peak hours, according to the secretary to the general manager of Shanghai Qiangsheng Taxi Co Ltd, another key cab company in the city.
Cheng, a spokesperson, expected this evening's peak hours to start from 4.30 pm and to continue through to 8 pm. Another period of peak demand would follow around midnight. Normally, peak hours last from 4.30 pm to 7 pm.
Qiangsheng started taking reservations for tonight's service yesterday afternoon.