Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    COMMUTERS in Shenzhen generally covered a distance of 7.4 kilometers on average from home to office, the third-longest among the four first-tier cities, according to a report of the GPS map service of Tencent.

    Statistics show that Beijing commuters covered an average of 9.3 kilometers, which was 1.3 kilometers longer than Shanghai commuters. Guangzhou commuters ranked fourth with the shortest distance of 6.5 kilometers.

    Commuters working in the Chegongmiao area in Shenzhen generally covered a distance of 8.1 kilometers, which was the longest distance, followed by commuters working in Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Nanshan District, Futian CBD, and the Caiwuwei area in Luohu District. Nearly half of the commuters working in Chegongmiao lived 5 to 10 kilometers away from their workplace.

    The report showed that only 1.8 percent of residents in Shenzhen commuted more than 25 kilometers, 3.2 percent lower than commuters in Beijing. Nearly 49 percent of Shenzhen residents worked within 5 kilometers of their home. Those who lived in Dongguan and Hong Kong had to cover more than 40 kilometers to get to work in downtown Shenzhen.

    The opening of Metro lines, especially lines 7 and 9, that link Futian and Nanshan CBDs with the Chegongmiao area has changed the means of commuting. A cab driver, surnamed Li, who has worked in Shenzhen for 10 years, said that ridership had decreased, especially for cross-district rides.

    “It is rare to carry cross-district commuters who travel more than 10 kilometers because of the Metro service network,” Li said. Now, most of his customers are traveling short distances of around 3-5 kilometers.