Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 25):

Question:

     Regarding cross-boundary public transport services, will the Government inform this Council:
     
(1) of the respective design flows, including passenger and vehicular flows, and actual flows (set out by weekdays and holidays) of various land boundary control points (BCPs) (excluding rail-based ones) at present (set out in a table);

(2) it is learnt that the Government has currently granted franchised bus services travelling to and from Tuen Mun/Yuen Long and Heung Yuen Wai BCP, but not between the North District/Tai Po and Shenzhen Bay Port (SBP), whether the Government will encourage and invite franchised bus operators to operate routes between the North District/Tai Po and SBP; of the factors of consideration for introducing franchised bus services travelling to and from various land BCPs at present;

(3) given that according to government information, the new Huanggang Port building will be completed by the end of this year, and the Port will have a design flow of approximately 200 000 passenger trips per day, of the measures that the Government will put in place to divert the cross-boundary passenger flows from other land BCPs to the new Huanggang Port as appropriate;

(4) as the Government indicated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on May 7 this year that the Government would, with reference to the case of SBP, arrange various local public transport services (including franchised buses, green minibuses and taxis (including urban, New Territories and taxi fleet taxis)) at the new Huanggang Port to meet the transportation needs of passengers travelling to and from the Port, of the respective numbers and shares of passenger trips for the various public transport services as projected by the Government;

(5) whether the Government has plans to arrange franchised bus services between the North District/Tai Po and the new Huanggang Port; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(6) whether it has studied the current positioning of the various local land BCPs connecting Shenzhen in the light of the changes in the development of various Shenzhen districts; whether the Government will adjust the cross-boundary franchised public transport services at such BCPs in the light of the actual situation; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     As the flow of people between the Mainland and Hong Kong becomes more frequent, the Government has been closely monitoring the passenger and vehicular throughputs at various road-based boundary control points (BCPs) and co-ordinating with relevant operators to adjust the public transport services connecting various ports in a timely manner, with a view to meeting the travel needs of visitors to Hong Kong and Hong Kong residents.

     In consultation with the Security Bureau and the Transport Department (TD), our reply to the Hon Chan Hak-kan's various parts of the question is as follows.

(1) The design/estimated daily handling capacity of passenger clearance, and the average daily number of inbound and outbound (two-way) passenger trips in 2024 at various road-based BCPs are set out at Annex 1; while the design capacity of the road-based BCPs, as well as the daily average two-way vehicular traffic in 2024 are set out at Annex 2.

(2) In planning public transport services, the TD strives to maintain the high efficiency of the overall transport system by optimising transport resources and co-ordinating with different public transport modes, while taking into account the actual road and traffic conditions, in order to provide the public with convenient travel options across various districts. At present, owing to the limited site area, the Shenzhen Bay Port facilities can only accommodate limited public transport services. Therefore, the TD will consider prioritising the provision of direct feeder services to nearby transport hubs, such as railway stations or major public transport interchanges, in order to make full use of the interchange arrangements amongst different public transport services and facilitate effective diversion of a large volume of visitors within a short period of time.

     To cater for the cross-boundary travel needs of the public, various public transport services are currently in place to facilitate residents to travel to and from the BCPs. For example, passengers in North District and Tai Po District may take the MTR East Rail Line to Lo Wu Control Point, or use the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to access the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point. In addition, passengers in North District may take various franchised bus routes to San Tin Public Transport Interchange (PTI), Yuen Long, or Tuen Mun, for interchange with corresponding public transport services to the Shenzhen Bay Port or the Lok Ma Chau Control Point. Cross-boundary coach routes between North District and Shenzhen via the Shenzhen Bay Port have also set up pick-up and drop-off points at San Wan Road in Fanling (Fanling Centre), outside MTR Sheung Shui Station, and at Sheung Shui Centre, to facilitate residents in North District to use cross-boundary coach services. The TD will monitor the situation, and liaise with relevant public transport operators to ensure the provision of appropriate transport services to and from the BCPs to the residents.

(3-5) The superstructure of the new Huanggang Port building is currently under construction and the target is to strive for basic completion of the new Port building by end-2025. The arrangements and timetable for the commissioning of the port are subject to further discussions by the Shenzhen and Hong Kong governments. The redeveloped Huanggang Port will adopt the co-location arrangement and implement the new "collaborative inspection and joint clearance" mode to further enhance passenger clearance efficiency.

     The design flow of the new Huanggang Port is about 200 000 passenger trips per day, which can be increased to about 300 000 upon the commissioning of the Northern Link Spur Line of the MTR, while the design flow for cross‑boundary vehicles is about 15 000 vehicular trips per day. The above design flows will be sufficient to meet the estimated demand of passenger and vehicular traffic during the initial period after the commissioning of the port. After the two governments have reached a consensus on the specific arrangements regarding the commissioning of the port (including estimated passenger flow during the initial period), arrangements for manpower deployment will be made in advance. The HKSAR Government will, as always, closely monitor the actual clearance traffic during the initial period after the commissioning of the port, flexibly allocate manpower and utilise innovative technology to meet the service demands at the port.

     Besides the new Huanggang Port is located at the middle part of the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and is connected to the Line 7 of Shenzhen Metro, with which travellers could easily gain access to different districts in Shenzhen. It is anticipated that some cross-boundary travellers that are currently crossing via other road-based and rail-based BCPs will switch to the new Huanggang Port to travel between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. A PTI will be set up in the new Huanggang Port for use by local public transport and cross-boundary transport services. 

     As the scale and area of the PTI are constrained by the usable space, there are very limited loading bay facilities for cross-boundary and non-cross-boundary public transport service vehicles (such as franchised buses and cross-boundary buses, etc.) for picking up, setting down and waiting for passengers. In this connection, the TD needs to make suitable and comprehensive planning of the public transport service arrangements (including franchised buses, green minibuses and taxis (including urban, New Territories and taxi fleet taxis) as well as cross-boundary coach services within the PTI and between the San Tin PTI and the new Huanggang Port. The TD will consult the trade (including operators of relevant public transport services) in a timely manner to discuss the relevant arrangements so as to enable commuters to use various modes of public transport to meet their transport needs. As for cross-boundary transport services, the TD has been liaising with the relevant Mainland authorities on providing appropriate and adequate long-haul and short-haul cross-boundary coach and cross-boundary hire car services.

     Upon the commissioning of the new Huanggang Port, the TD will closely monitor the passenger demands with various public transport operators. Subject to the changes in the passenger volumes, various public transport services will be timely adjusted to facilitate travellers.

(6) There are currently four road-based BCPs between Shenzhen and Hong Kong including Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To, Shenzhen Bay and Heung Yuen Wai, which are passenger and cargo ports, providing clearance services for both passengers and cross-boundary vehicles; while passenger and cargo clearance services at Sha Tau Kok control point have currently been suspended to facilitate the redevelopment of Sha Tau Kok Port.

     To tie in with the enhanced arrangement under the "East in East out, West in West out" planning strategy for cross-boundary goods traffic between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the two governments commissioned the operation of the cargo clearance facilities of the Liantang Port/Heung Yuen Wai Control Point in August 2020, which has significantly shortened the travelling time between Hong Kong, Shenzhen and eastern Guangdong, thereby further promoting the co-operation and development of the two places and neighbouring provinces. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Bay Port located in the western part of Shenzhen has also extended the opening hours of its cargo clearance service to 24 hours in December 2020, whereby cross-boundary goods vehicles travelling to and from the western part of Shenzhen will primarily be using the Shenzhen Bay Port for immigration clearance. As for the Huanggang Port currently under redevelopment and the Sha Tau Kok Control Point planned for redevelopment, they will become passenger clearance-only control points without cargo clearance service, so as to further focus on enhancing passenger service and clearance capacity.

     At present, cross-boundary coach services are regulated under a quota system jointly administered by the relevant departments of the Mainland and Hong Kong. The system aims at ensuring the smooth traffic and operation of boundary crossings. Appropriate public transport services will be arranged having regard to the nature, positioning, facilities and design of immigration clearance procedures of each control point. The Government and the operators will also closely monitor the changes in travel patterns and number of travellers, with a view to timely adjusting the relevant services and issuing quotas based on actual needs so as to facilitate the flow of people between the two places.

     Taking peak periods of cross-boundary travel (such as festive days and holidays) as an example, the TD has been co-ordinating with the relevant Mainland authorities and working with the public transport operators to draw up plans ahead in accordance with the forecasted passenger flow during peak periods, including issuing additional ad-hoc quotas to cross-boundary coach service operators, so as to address the transport demand of cross-boundary travellers and facilitate their travel via various BCPs during peak periods. The cross-boundary coach operators will also deploy adequate staff at the BCPs and major passenger pick-up points in the city to assist in maintaining order in passenger queueing and waiting.

Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:45

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