On April 21st, an article titled "Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Still Haunted by 'Ghost Bridge' Fate Five Years After Opening" was published by Voice of America Chinese. It was subsequently picked up by several overseas media outlets, garnering nearly 500,000 views on Twitter. The article alleged that China's Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge "has had consistently low usage since its opening in 2018, with some media even dubbing it a 'ghost bridge.'"
The article featured a photo sourced from the Associated Press, depicting "vehicles driving on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on March 28th, 2018," with the bridge appearing deserted.
Further investigation revealed discrepancies in the portrayal of the bridge
The photo used by Voice of America was sourced from the Associated Press image library, taken on March 28th, 2018.
Screenshot from the Associated Press image library
On the well-known image repository website Getty Images, there are many photos with the same shooting date and similar perspectives. One of these, sourced from Bloomberg, indicates that March 28th, 2018, was the media tour day for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Photos with similar perspectives taken by Bloomberg
Keyword searches confirmed that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge officially opened to traffic on October 24th, 2018. Therefore, at the time the Associated Press captured the image, the bridge was not yet open to regular traffic, leading to an inaccurate representation of the traffic flow on the bridge.
Is the usage of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge really low?
Contrary to claims made by Voice of America, data suggests that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has seen substantial usage since its completion.
According to a report by the Paper on October 23rd, 2019, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge management authority disclosed that as of that date, the total number of passengers traveling between the three ports of the bridge amounted to 24.435 million, with an average of approximately 66,900 passengers per day. This figure surpassed the predicted passenger volume (predicted to be around 48,000 passengers per day) during the initial phase of the bridge's operation.
Data from the Transport Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government indicates that in 2019, the total vehicle flow through the checkpoints of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge reached 1.5211 million times, averaging around 4,167 times per day. Despite a temporary decline in vehicle traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, the average daily vehicle passages through the bridge rebounded to over 6,000 in 2023, with a total vehicle flow of 2.2791 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 1.5 times.
Vehicle flow data of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (as of January 2024) Data source: Transport Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
In October 2023, Hong Kong's "Ta Kung Pao" reported significant statistics regarding the usage of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge over the past five years. The bridge's Zhuhai highway port saw a total of 36 million passenger trips and 7.5 million vehicle crossings between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Notably, residents from Hong Kong and Macao accounted for 55% of the total boundary crossings, with a total of 19.8 million entries and exits. Moreover, by October 2023, the total value of imported and exported goods through the Zhuhai highway port of the bridge had surpassed 700 billion yuan, establishing it as a crucial economic artery in the Greater Bay Area. The implementation of the "northbound travel for Macao vehicles" and "northbound travel for Hong Kong vehicles" policies in January and July respectively further boosted traffic flow through the Zhuhai port. The port even saw a new single-day vehicle passage record 14 times.
The "northbound travel for Macao vehicles" policy, effective since January 1st, 2023, allows privately owned vehicles from Macao with proper permits to enter Guangdong Province through the Zhuhai port of the bridge. Macao residents aged 18 and above can register one Macao-registered private vehicle for travel to and from the Chinese mainland if they hold Chinese mainland travel permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents.
Similarly, starting from July 1st, 2023, the "northbound travel for Hong Kong vehicles" policy enables eligible Hong Kong private vehicles to enter Guangdong Province through the Zhuhai port of the bridge.
According to information from the Guangdong Provincial People's Government website, these policies aim to implement the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" and further facilitate cross-boundary travel for residents and vehicles between Guangdong and Macao/Hong Kong.
During the Easter holiday period from March 28th to March 31st, 2024, the Zhuhai port of the bridge handled nearly 485,000 passengers, with over 280,000 from Hong Kong, accounting for nearly 60% of the total passenger flow. In terms of vehicle traffic, there were a total of 68,000 vehicle crossings, with 44,000 vehicles bearing Hong Kong and Macao license plates.
Images of heavy traffic on the bridge circulated widely on social media, providing visual evidence that contradicts the characterization of the bridge as a "ghost bridge" by Voice of America Chinese. Multiple media reports highlighted the surge in traffic on the bridge during the holiday period, with traffic reaching record highs and traffic police implementing diversion measures in some sections due to the influx of vehicles.
On April 2nd, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong cited data from the Gongbei Customs of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Customs to announce that on April 1st, the checkpoint handled over 19,500 inbound and outbound vehicles, setting a new historical record since the opening of the checkpoint.
This record was subsequently broken again on April 6th. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on April 7th, on April 6th, the Zhuhai highway port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge saw 19,570 vehicle crossings, marking the third time in seven days that the traffic record had been broken. Data from the boundary inspection department showed that from March 28th to April 6th, the cumulative passenger and vehicle flow through the Zhuhai port of the bridge exceeded 1 million and 170,000 respectively, with daily averages exceeding 100,000 passengers and 17,000 vehicles, more than double compared to the same period last year. Among them, Hong Kong and Macao residents contributed over 740,000 passenger trips and nearly 110,000 vehicle crossings, representing approximately 73% and 64% of the total passenger and vehicle flow.
In summary, the data refutes the portrayal of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge as a "ghost bridge" by Voice of America Chinese, which relied on a pre-operational photo and selective data. Within one year of its opening, the bridge's daily passenger traffic exceeded expectations. After the pandemic, both passenger and vehicle traffic have returned to normal levels, frequently breaking records. Since the opening of the bridge five years ago, a total of 36 million people and 7.5 million vehicles have traveled through the Zhuhai Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Among them, residents of Hong Kong and Macao accounted for 19.8 million trips, which is 55% of the total.
Source: Yangcheng Evening News
