Transport in Shenzhen
Shenzhen has an extensive transport network, including various forms of land, water and air transport.
Rail transport
National railway
Shenzhen is served by China's national railway network, China Railway, where train services between Shenzhen and cities across the whole China run.[1][2] The station is currently handling high-speed trains to Guangzhou South, Guangzhou North, Changsha, Wuhan, Beijing and intermediate stations on the Beijing-Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong HSR route.[3]
Train stations for passenger service in Shenzhen include:
Shenzhen Railway Station, located in Luohu District, connected to the Luohu Port to Hong Kong, is the most important train station in the city. Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, which uses near high speed CRH trains for frequent passenger service, begins at this station. There are also a few long-distance trains departing from this station.
Shenzhen North Railway Station, located in Longhua New District, is the main terminal for high-speed rail train service in Shenzhen. Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and Xiamen-Shenzhen Railways both serve this station, offering frequent high-speed train service to other parts of China.
Shenzhen East Railway Station, formerly Buji Railway Station, located in Buji subdistrict of Longgang District, on Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, is one of the major terminal for long-distance trains departing from Shenzhen.
Shenzhen West Railway Station, located in Nantou, is one of the auxiliary train stations, with a few departures for long-haul trains.
Futian Railway Station is located directly in the city centre. It is the current southern terminus of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, with high-speed train service to Guangzhou South Railway Station.
Shenzhen Pingshan Railway Station is an en-route station of Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway, serving Pingshan New District.
Guangmingcheng Railway Station is an en-route station of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, serving Guangming New District.
Pinghu Railway Station is an en-route station of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway in Pinghu Subdistrict, which is currently under renovation and will be served by CRH trains between Shenzhen and Guangzhou when completed.
Metro
Shenzhen Metro was first opened in 2004, then expanded in 2011. Now the system has 5 lines, namely Line 1 to Line 5, and 118 stations. Additional 6 lines, Line 6 to Line 11 are currently under construction, including one airport rail link serving the airport.[4][5]
A single journey ticket in the metro costs 2 RMB to 11 RMB. Discounts are given using Shenzhen Tong instead of a single journey ticket.
Road transport
Buses
Bus services in Shenzhen first began at 1975, now have expanded to a network consisting of near 1000 routes. Three franchised companies, Shenzhen Bus Group, Shenzhen Eastern Bus and Shenzhen Western Bus operate most of the routes, and the remaining routes are operated by a few private companies.
Bus services in Shenzhen are subsidized by the government, where the operators have to set the bus fares according to a guideline. Bus fares range from 2 RMB to 10 RMB, except for branch routes, which the fare are 1 RMB, and privately-operated premium services, which may be charged as much as 25 RMB. Fare has to be given when boarding the bus in short-haul routes and express routes, where no charge is given. However, for most long-haul routes, fare is collected manually according to the destination of the passenger. Shenzhen Tong is accepted on all bus routes with discounts, except a few privately-operated premium routes.
Bus routes in Shenzhen are categorised into three categories, beginning from December 2008:
- Express lines
These are long-haul routes connecting the city and the suburbs/exurbs, travelling on motorways. The buses used for these routes, which are normally actually coaches for long-distance travel, are green. Normally, no standing passengers are allowed on these routes. These routes are charged a flat fare with a maximum of 10 RMB, according to the distance of the route. Renumbered routes in this category start with E, for example, E1 and E25, and a few routes beginning with 3 or 8 in the old numbering scheme running on motorways also fall into this category, e.g. 868.
- Main lines
These are medium to long routes, travelling on trunk roads, for example, national highway G107, using full-sized transit buses. The buses are cyan in colour. These routes are charged according to the distance of the route, from 2 RMB to 10 RMB, if the full fare is greater than 3 RMB, sectional fares and manual fare collection are used, with short-haul passengers paying only 2 RMB. Renumbered routes in this category start with M, for example, M206 and M408, and most of the routes in the old numbering scheme fall into this category, e.g. 1 and 337.
- Branch lines
These are short-haul routes travelling inside a neighbourhood, running on narrow streets and alleys, using small minibuses/midibuses orange in colour. With one exception, these routes are charged a flat fare of 1 RMB. Renumbered routes in this category start with B, for example, B688 and B813. Some of the routes in the old numbering scheme, starting with 7 or 9, fall into this category, e.g. 720.
In addition, there are some other bus routes, not belonging to the above categories, with Chinese characters forming part of the route number, which include:
- 机场X线: Airport routes
- 高峰专线XX路: Peak hour routes
- 高快巴士XX路: Routes that function as point-to-point service
- 深莞X线, 深惠X线: Intercity bus routes connecting Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou. These are all standard bus routes using transit buses, not long-distance coaches.
- Old numbering scheme
Before December 2008, bus routes in Shenzhen were numbered using the hundred district according to the districts where the route operated in.
- XX, 1XX, 2XX: Full-sized bus routes totally within the Special Economic Zone, which become main lines in the current categorisation.
- 3XX: Full-sized bus routes crossing the border of the Special Economic Zone, which become main lines or express lines in the current categorisation.
- 4XX: Minibus routes within the Special Economic Zone, abolished in 2004.
- 5XX: Minibus routes crossing the border of the Special Economic Zone, abolished in 2004 except premium express routes in form of K5XX.
- 6XX: Full-sized bus routes serving Bao'an District, which become main lines in the current categorisation.
- 7XX: Minibus routes serving Bao'an District, gradually replaced by full-sized bus after 2004, which become branch lines or main lines in the current categorisation.
- 8XX: Full-sized bus routes serving Longgang District, which become main lines or express lines in the current categorisation.
- 9XX: Minibus routes serving Longgang District, gradually replaced by full-sized bus after 2004, which become branch lines or main lines in the current categorisation.
A letter A or B may be added after the route number, which indicates small variations of the route, and if a letter K appears before the route number, the route is a fast route which runs parallel to the corresponding route without K (for example, K113 is the fast route of 113).
New routes starting from December 2008, no longer use this numbering scheme, and old routes extensively modified are renumbered to the new scheme sequentially assigning a number starting with E, M or B instead.
Also, there are some special purpose routes like H92, J1, and T2A, which are privately operated.
Intercity buses and coaches
There are a lot of long distance coach stations in Shenzhen, with coach services to various parts of China. Apart from these long-distance coaches, there are also some coaches running between Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong, for example, Guangzhou and Dongguan, with a "route number" starting with 长 (meaning long), for example, 长16路. These numbered coaches are mainly unregulated, and illegal "fake" vehicles are sometimes found on these routes.
Apart from coaches, transit buses can also be used for intercity travel between Shenzhen and its neighbouring cities, Dongguan and Huizhou. The "inter-city" bus routes like 深莞X线 and 深惠X线 are official regulated bus routes between these cities, and there are also a few de facto intercity bus routes with regular numbering, like 398 and 866, and 208 from Huizhou, which travel across the city border.
Taxis
There are currently 3 kinds of taxis in Shenzhen, distinguished by their colour:
- Red taxis
Red taxis are able to operate in the whole Shenzhen.
- Green taxis
Green taxis are able to operate only outside the abolished border of the Special Economic Zone, in other words, they are able to operate only in Bao'an District, Longgang District and the new districts. The fare of green taxis is cheaper than red taxis.
- Blue taxis
Blue taxis are able to operate in the whole Shenzhen, like red taxis, and are charged the same as red taxis. However, they are electric vehicles, therefore, fuel surcharge does not apply on blue taxis.
Maritime transport
Ferries
There are ferries from Shekou Passenger Terminal to other cities in Pearl River Delta region, including Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. Moreover, there is also a ferry terminal at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, with direct ferry connecting Hong Kong International Airport totally in airside.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ Shenzhen New Railway Station to Be Built, Shortens Trip to Guangzhou
- ↑ 宗传苓,谭国威,张晓春.基于城市发展战略的深圳高铁枢纽规划研究——以深圳北站和福田站为例[J].规划师,2011,27(10);23-29.
- ↑ "广州深圳升级为半小时城市圈". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ↑ "Shenzhen Metro". exploremetro. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- ↑ 深圳市统计局 (2008-12-02). "深圳市2011年国民经济和社会发展统计公报".
- ↑ "Shenzhen Shekou Passenger Terminal". Retrieved 17 April 2016.
External links
Media related to Transport in Shenzhen at Wikimedia Commons
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