Blind residents can now use audio-equipped border exit

Visually impaired Hongkongers will now be able to use a self-service departure clearance system - or e-Channel - when travelling to Shenzhen via the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoint.

One e-Channel has become the first in the world to be equipped with audio instructions, and it will enable Hong Kong residents who are blind or partially sighted to handle the departure procedures on their own.

In the past, visually impaired residents had to queue at the channel designated for the elderly, said Blind Union project manager Lau Shing-kwan.

"They couldn't tell where to insert their identity cards or when the gate would open at the e-Channel," he said. "Many were frustrated that they had to let their friends wait for a long time."

But now the Immigration Department has installed a step-by-step audio instruction system to the channel. It has also added braille to its card holder and fingerprint scanner, and built a blind track that directs the visually impaired from the MTR exit to the channel. The department spent a year designing and testing the new e-Channel, said its assistant director Corrado Chow. It cost HK$570,000.

He said all residents were free to use the audio-equipped channel, but users have to first activate the audio instructions via a yellow button to the right of the gate.