Six bus routes linking the Huanggang Checkpoint in Shenzhen and the central areas of Hong Kong opens Monday (Aug. 16) in a bid to facilitate vehicle management at the checkpoint.

The six routes connect the checkpoint with Wan Tsai, Yau Tsim, Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Mong Kok, as well as Kam Tin in Hong Kong, and are expected to greatly relieve the traffic pressure at the Huanggang Checkpoint.

After the Huanggang Checkpoint opened 24-hour operations, the daily average entry-exit figures surged from 50,000 to 110,000, with the largest figure reaching 143,000.

This had caused the number of shuttle buses to exceed 1,000, far in excess of the checkpoint's handling capacity. Moreover, many bus companies changed routes at random, greatly disrupting proceedings at the Huanggang Checkpoint.

To improve the situation, the checkpoint management departments of Guangdong and Hong Kong held a series of meetings and finally decided to retain only six bus routes directly linking the Huanggang Checkpoint and the central areas of Hong Kong.

A fixed booking office with several windows has been set up at the checkpoint and buses will charge a standard fare.

Apart from the route linking Kam Tin, to run at least 18 hours a day, the other five will operate round the clock. All six bus routes have a total of 400 runs a day with each route having at least 60 runs, the checkpoint departments said.

The interval between buses in peak hours will be about 15 minutes and may be prolonged to 30-60 minutes when there are fewer passengers.

Each bus will wait at the checkpoint for half an hour at most, and any company selling tickets outside the ticket office will be subject to a penalty.

Some Hong Kong passengers, however, complained Monday that the fare increase and the reduction in the number of routes had inconvenienced them. There has been no comment from checkpoint officials on the complaints.

Editor: Catherine