A sea bridge between Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Chinese Zhuhai, has opened in the Pearl River Delta. The 42-kilometer road along the bridge and underwater tunnel will make travel between these cities much easier and much cheaper, reports our own correspondent Travel.ru.
The bridge starts at Hong Kong Airport, where a new artificial island has been built near the terminals to house the Hong Kong Border Terminal. From there, the bridge goes past the airport into the sea bay and ends on another artificial island, where a 7-kilometer underwater section of the road begins. It comes to the surface on the next artificial island and continues as a bridge to the border of Macau with mainland China. There, motorists and bus passengers have the option of turning into Macau or into the mainland (Zhuhai). Traffic on the bridge is on the right - three lanes in each direction - although in Hong Kong and Macau themselves, traffic is on the left.
Shuttle buses run 24 hours a day on the new road across the bay. The interval is 5 minutes during peak hours, 15-30 minutes at night, 10-15 minutes at other times. The fare is HK$65 (€7.2) during the day and HK$70 (€7.8) at night (from midnight to 6 am).
The Hong Kong Port Terminal (called Hong Kong Port) can be reached from Tung Chung MTR Station in 10 minutes by buses B5 and B6, and from the airport in 5 minutes by buses B4 and 901. The price in both cases is 6 Hong Kong dollars (0.7 euros). In addition, all night airport routes and most daytime routes (routes A11, A21, A22, A29, A31, A33X, A35, A36 and A41) will also call at the Port Terminal. They can be used from most parts of Hong Kong for about 20-40 Hong Kong dollars (2.2-4.4 euros). The terminal in Macau is also served by city buses - the fare is 6 patacas (0.6 euros).
There are also a number of ostensibly direct buses between the centres of Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. However, passengers will still have to get off at two border checkpoints for passport control, and the frequency of these routes is lower. The fare ranges from HK$120 to HK$220 (€13-24).
Until now, direct communication between Hong Kong and Macau was represented by frequent ferries (with fares starting from HK$170 (€20)) and helicopters (HK$4,300 (€477). On the ferry line to Hong Kong airport from Macau (allowing you to skip border control in Hong Kong and go straight to the plane), prices start from HK$270 (€30). The appearance of the bridge and direct buses will allow many tourists to significantly reduce their costs, not depending on the ferry schedule and the location of their piers.
It is worth keeping in mind that the bus schedule may be slightly reduced in the first weeks – carriers complain that the authorities informed them about the opening of the bridge only 5 days in advance instead of the promised two months. As a result, bus companies did not have time to prepare enough buses and drivers for a full schedule.
Source: travel.ru