On April 7, 2007, Guangzhou's first ferry bus made a successful pilot sail on the Front Channel of the Pearl River. To ease traffic jams on land routes during rush hours, the new water route will officially start trial operations on April 10.  The route, which passes through Zhongda Matou (or Zhongda Dock), Tianzi Matou (or Tianzi Pier), Xiti Matou (or Xidi Pier) and Fangcun Matou (or Fangcun Pier), will consist of one liner every 20 minutes during the rush hours, and one liner every 30 minutes during non-rush hours.

In 1970's and 1980's, Guangzhou had several waterway passenger routes. However with land route transportation becoming more and more developed and the problems of decreasing passenger flow and higher costs, the waterway passenger transportation quietly left the market. This time, people's concern focuses on how far the renaissance development of the ferry bus can go.

Editor: Donald