Hong Kong 2006 - Transport

Cross-boundary vehicular traffic increased by 2 per cent in 2006 over the previous year, averaging 41 000 vehicles a day. Total cross-boundary passenger traffic by rail, road and ferry increased by about 5 per cent compared with 2005, reaching 477 000 passengers a day.

Lo Wu, the only rail boundary crossing into the Mainland, operates between 6.30 am and midnight every day. It handled an average of 254 000 passengers daily during the year, and more than 371 000 on festive days.

There are three road crossings between Hong Kong and the Mainland: Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok. The Lok Ma Chau crossing has been operating round-the-clock for goods vehicles since November 1994 and for passenger traffic since January 2003. The Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok crossings are opened daily to goods and passenger vehicle traffic from 7 am to 10 pm and from 7 am to 8 pm respectively.

The daily average number of vehicle trips recorded at Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok during the year were 31 100, 7 500 and 2 500 respectively.

The daily average numbers of cross-boundary travellers that used the Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok crossings were 134 300, 8 400 and 7 300 respectively. These travellers crossed the boundary by taking either cross-boundary coaches or shuttle buses that plied between Huanggang in Shenzhen and the Public Transport Interchange at San Tin. In 2006, about 84 500 passengers took the cross-boundary coaches provided by some 100 companies, while 50 300 took the shuttle buses each day.

A trial scheme for taxis and green minibuses to operate at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point between midnight and 6.30 am was introduced in March 2003. During those hours, northbound passengers may take taxis and green minibuses to the control point directly and then cross the boundary by shuttle buses, while southbound passengers may board taxis and green minibuses at the control point after immigration clearance. The starting time of the trial scheme was advanced from midnight to 11 pm in January 2005.

To meet the continuous growth in cross-boundary traffic, new road and rail crossings have been planned in coordination with the Mainland authorities.

The fourth road crossing, the HK-SWC will be opened in 2007 connecting the northwestern part of Hong Kong with Shekou in Shenzhen. The second rail passenger crossing at Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang will be completed, together with the Spur Line, in 2007. As regards the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), the governments of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region are actively pursuing the advance work of the project. An investigation and preliminary design study on the Hong Kong section of the HZMB and the related connecting infrastructure is also under way. As for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the KCRC is now conducting the engineering/business study and preliminary site investigations for the Hong Kong section.

Cross-boundary ferry services to about 18 Mainland ports and Macao are provided by seven operators at the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan, the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui and the new Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal. The number of cross-boundary travellers using these services to travel to and from Mainland ports totalled 6.5 million, and the number to and from Macao was 14.3 million in 2006.