One million Expo taxies have been dispatched for customers between May 1 and today (Aug 5) as a key effort to serve the ongoing World Expo.

According to the Shanghai Expo Taxi Dispatch Center at the Dazhong Transportation Group, the number was reached at 9:40 am Thursday (Aug 5) and Dazhong Chairman Yang Guoping went to the home of the lucky passenger to present him an Expo gift including an Expo ticket and an Expo Taxi VIP card.

The center with 4,000 Expo taxies contributed by the city's five key taxi companies including Bashi, Dazhong, Haibo, Jinjiang and Qiangsheng deals with dispatches of 11,000 Expo taxies at present.

"We have met the needs of the number of customers we expected before we provided the service," Yang said.

"Reaching 1 million means the co-ordinated effort made by the five partners has born fruit, accumulating experiences for the further development of the city's taxi industry."

Yang said the success of the new taxi service for the World Expo should be also owed to the use of new technologies and facilities, which have not only improved the efficiency of taxi operation, but also reduced energy for better living conditions.