More than 95 percent of respondents would prefer mass transit during the Shanghai Expo this year, backing the municipal government's call for people to use public transport during the event, the municipal traffic authorities said Sunday.

As of Saturday, statistics collected by eastday.com and shjjw.gov.cn, the website of Shanghai Urban Construction and Communication Commission, showed that 49 percent of the residents polled would prefer taking the metro.

And 22 percent of those surveyed pick buses, while six percent favor the Expo lines (a section of the metro). As nine percent of the respondents choose chartered buses, nine percent of the people surveyed prefer ferries. Only five percent said they would prefer taking other means of transportation during the Expo.

More efforts would be devoted before the Expo to further improving public transportation, including the construction of nine temporary parking lots, promotion of the bus network and modification of 23 entrances to the Expo, said Huang Rong, director of Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission.

All this work was expected to be completed by March, Huang said.

The Expo will be held in the city from May 1 to Oct. 31, and 70 million visitors are expected to turn up at legions of the Expo venues in Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2010)