SH to use odd-even car plate plan for World Expo

Shanghai, July 17 (Gasgoo.com) Shanghai will adopt the odd-even system of auto number plates, as used in last year's Beijing Olympics, to ease traffic congestion during the 2010 World Expo in the megacity, xinhuanet.com said today.

Under the system, privately owned cars with odd and even number plates will be allowed on roads on alternative days in the old and new downtown areas on both sides of the Huangpu River.

The rule would be effective for at least the first week following the opening of World Expo on May 1, 2010, according to Thursday's Shanghai Daily, a local English-language newspaper.

With the six-month Expo expected to attract an average of 400,000 visitors every day, city officials said easing traffic pressure was a vital task, right up there with security.

Officials said the duration of the odd-even plate plan will depend on how it works initially.