THE first cross-city bus hub will be built to connect Shenzhen and Zhongshan, a city about 120 kilometers from Shenzhen, to serve the Shenzhen-Zhongshan cross-city bus routes, according to Zhongshan’s reform and development commission.

Construction on the project will start in November and is expected to be completed by February 2024.

The project involves the transformation and construction of a former parking lot at the northwest corner of the Zhongshan Expo Center. With a bus-waiting hall as the main building, the project will cost approximately 14.99 million yuan (US$ 2.05 million).

According to Zhongshan’s comprehensive transportation plan for 2021-2025, the cross-city routes between Zhongshan and Shenzhen will be designed to connect Ma’an Port Terminal and Shenzhen West Railway Station, as well as Zhongshan Expo Center and Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport.

The cross-city buses will operate on the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link when the  24-kilometer link is open to traffic in 2024, which will cut the commuting time between the two cities from two hours to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan airport hall project will be built at Zhongshan Expo Center.

The 1,100-square-meterproject, which will include a check-in zone and a waiting hall, will have direct connectivity to the Shenzhen airport, which is 48 kilometers away.

Once the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is operational, travelers departing from the hall will reach the Shenzhen airport in 33 minutes.

Currently, there is one operating passenger ferry route between Zhongshan and Shenzhen. In addition, to support port logistics and foreign trade development and improve customs clearance efficiency, Zhongshan has opened seven Combined Port ferry routes, four of which link Shenzhen.

Under the Combined Port program, initiated by Shenzhen Customs and the city’s transport bureau, freights from the Pearl River Delta cities outside Shenzhen, after completing customs procedures, can embark on shipping vessels without necessarily going through a second customs check. It enables ports in the Pearl River Estuary under different customs administrations to share codes.

(Cheng Yixuan, Chen Siqi)