THREE people were caught smoking at Shenzhen North Bus Terminal beside Shenzhen North Railway Station during an anti-smoking raid conducted by law enforcers Tuesday. Each of the smokers was fined 50 yuan (US$7.69) for violating the smoking ban, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

One of the smokers was a passenger who took a bus to the terminal and was on his way to take a high-speed train at Shenzhen North Railway Station. He lighted a cigarette right after he got to the square near the railway station’s west square from the underground bus terminal and his sister who was holding a baby girl was walking along with him.

“My brother knows that smoking is prohibited at the bus terminal, so he tried his best to control himself, but he couldn’t wait to smoke when he got to the square,” the sister said.

A taxi driver, surnamed Zhang, was caught smoking in his car when waiting for passengers at Shenzhen North Railway Station.

According to Zhang, he has smoked for many years and sometimes smokes in his taxi when waiting for passengers because it’s simply where he spends most of his time. But Zhang said he always ventilates the car after smoking in it to avoid causing discomfort to passengers.

A resident who takes taxis frequently, said she is sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke and sometimes feels sick when smelling the smoke in a taxi. She said she really hopes that the cabbies can avoid smoking in their cars if possible.

According to Zhuang Runsen, vice president of the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association, smoking is not allowed in public vehicles in Shenzhen and it’s illegal for taxi, bus or coach drivers to smoke in their vehicles.

Cigarettes were found being sold at a kiosk in the waiting hall of the bus terminal, but there weren’t any signs at the kiosk warning customers that smoking is harmful to their health. The law enforcers have launched an investigation against the kiosk and checked if it has a legal retail license for selling cigarettes.

Shenzhen’s smoking ban, said to be the harshest of its kind in China, stipulates fines between 50 and 500 yuan for individual violators and up to 30,000 yuan for operators of nonsmoking venues that fail to comply with the ban, which was extended to all indoor areas Jan. 1 this year.

Four monthlong operations were launched by the city authorities in March, May, June and August to conduct spot checks in leisure venues, restaurants, office buildings, hospitals and parks citywide to punish smoking-ban violators. The anti-smoking raid Tuesday is part of the fifth operation for checking violations of the smoking ban in bus stations across the city. (Zhang Yang)