Long traffic jams greet Hong Kong tourists trying out new Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link
- Bus journey from Kwun Tong to Zhongshan took six hours, significantly longer than the expected 90 minutes
Hong Kong residents taking cross-border buses for an inaugural trip on a new mega link over the Pearl River Delta faced longer journey times than expected amid heavy congestion on the much-anticipated launch day.
A Post reporter joined local tourists for the bus trip via the 24km Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, which opened on Sunday after seven years of construction and connects the cities through two bridges, two artificial islands and a sea tunnel.
The bus journey from Kwun Tong to Zhongshan on the western side of the delta took six hours, significantly longer than the expected 90 minutes.
At 2pm, the reporter boarded one of the first buses to Zhongshan and crossed into mainland China at the Shenzhen Bay port at 3.20pm after clearing customs.
The operator, Eternal East Bus Group Management, initially estimated the journey would take 45 minutes to reach the destination via the new 44.69 billion yuan (US$6.15 billion) route.
But heavy congestion on the Guangshen Coastal Expressway, a major route connected to the project, left the bus stuck in traffic for three hours and five minutes.