Shuttle bus booking site sent one payment email many times over; bookings and seats unaffected, says organiser

• On 20 September 2026 the booking site for the four-station shuttle buses sent some customers the same email, titled “payment for your booked bus is now open” (our translation of the Japanese subject), many times in a row. The GREEN×EXPO Association explained what happened on its website on 23 September and apologised.
• The email is meant to tell people who have booked a bus that payment has opened. A fault in the booking system’s mail function sent it repeatedly.
• The cause: when the system processed several customers in one batch, it did not reset the recipient details between each one. A fix went live at 13:49 on 20 September and the fault is resolved.
• The Association says no personal data, including card details and passwords, was leaked, and bookings and seat allocations are unaffected.
• The contractor that runs the booking system emailed an explanation and apology to those affected and phoned the people it could reach. The Association says it will test more thoroughly, including checks based on real use.
• Enquiries go to the Association’s transport office at kotsu@expo2027yokohama.or.jp.

Our take

The flood of emails carried a genuine message. According to the Association’s FAQ, a shuttle booking made 181 or more days before the travel date is provisional. You pay by credit card between 180 and 31 days before the date, and an unpaid booking is cancelled automatically.

Opening day is 19 March 2027, and 20 September is exactly 180 days before it. Bookings opened on 18 September, so anyone who reserved an opening-day bus straight away held a provisional booking, and its payment period began on the 20th. The deadline for opening day is 16 February 2027.

The same email will keep arriving. Payment for 20 March opens on 21 September, for 3 May on 4 November, and for closing day, 26 September, on 30 March 2027. If you hold provisional bookings for several days, we think one notice per travel date is how it is supposed to work.

Some people will have deleted the flood or sent it to spam. Your booking still exists, but it will not survive without payment, so logging in to check is quicker than hunting for the email.

Tips for visitors

• If you made a provisional booking, check its payment status on the booking site (cs.shuttle-bus.expo2027yokohama.or.jp). Only credit cards work here: the QR code payment the Association plans to add cannot be used to pay for a provisional booking.
• The deadline is 31 days before you travel: 16 February 2027 for 19 March, 17 February for 20 March. Check that both the outbound and return trips are paid.
• If you marked the sender as spam, undo it. Payment notices for your other dates use the same subject line.
• Stops, fares and cancellation charges are in our shuttle bus guide.