Travellers fret over links to new checkpoint
Commuters uneasy ahead of Lok Ma Chau spur line opening
The first train on the Lok Ma Chau spur line is scheduled to leave East Tsim Sha Tsui station at 3.15pm on Wednesday, but commuters are worried about transport links on the mainland side of the crossing at Futian, which they say are inadequate.
Two days before the opening of the new checkpoint, the exit to the building housing joint immigration facilities remains a rough piece of land.
Unlike Lo Wu, passengers leaving the terminal building will be unable to find a public transport interchange or taxi stand. Apart from the Shenzhen Metro Line 4, the only other options they have are three bus routes to Futian and Luohu districts that call at a stop outside the checkpoint.
A director at the Shenzhen control point, who only gave his name as Mr Pan, said it was designed mainly for railway connection.
He said the small number of passengers who needed to hire taxis would be able to find them, as transport operators would provide cabs where there was business. 'I believe there will be a formal taxi stand ... but let's take one step at a time.'
Commuters say train services on the Shenzhen Metro are too infrequent, especially on Line 4, which operates at an interval of every 10 minutes.
'There are too few buses and it takes too long to wait for the train,' said Alan Chan, 37, who travels daily between Tsuen Wan and Shuiwei village in Shenzhen.
Mr Chan said he would continue to use the Huanggang checkpoint 800 metres away. No shops are ready at the new terminal building, apart from a duty-free store.
The Shenzhen Development Bank plans to install automatic teller machines in the building but they have not been set up. Work on footpaths is incomplete outside the building, with piles of bricks left behind.
In Hong Kong, some commuters were also unhappy about transport links to the Lok Ma Chau border.
Darren Patterson, who visits his home in Shenzhen at least twice a week, said the new railway line would not bring him greater convenience, as he lived in Tsuen Wan.
A bus route and a green minibus service will ferry commuters between Yuen Long and the new checkpoint. Commuters can also hire taxis.
The Hong Kong Tele-call Taxi Association, which represents drivers of green cabs, said it would cost HK$185 for a trip from Tsuen Wan MTR station, HK$310 from the airport and HK$168 from Ma On Shan Centre.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation has told the Transport Advisory Committee it expects 70 per cent of the spur line's patronage to come from Lo Wu.
The line, a 7.4km extension that branches off from Sheung Shui on East Rail, is expected to divert a quarter of the passenger traffic from busy Lo Wu station.
