| Transport |
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Shenzhen can be reached by water, air and land. Below is a summary of the most important means of transport in Shenzhen. Although most foreign visitors to Shenzhen fly to Hong Kong or Guangzhou, Shenzhen also has an international airport. Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (code SZX) is situated in Bao'an district, a little more than 30 km from the city center of Shenzhen. The airport was opened in 1991 and has148 Chinese and 11 international destinations. Over 10 million passengers use the airport yearly and there is a ferry connection with HK International Airport so people can transfer flights without having to check-in again. Shenzhen's airport is the fourth airport of mainland China (after Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing) and is the 81st in the world for passengers and 37th for cargo traffic.
tip! Always take your passport when you travel to the airport, since you will leave the city border. Even though nowadays the police does not check often anymore, there is still a chance they will check busses when you enter the city border.
Update 16 juni 2006 - Shenzhen airport will be extended with a new landing strip that is suitable for the Airbus A380. In total more than 741 million US$ will be invested, to insure that by 2015 at least 36 million passengers and 1.8 million tons of cargo can be handled. Read more... Update 16 august 2008 - Shenzhen has a check-in counter for the Baiyun International airport in Guangzhou. This facility opened the 15th of October 2007 and allows people to check-in in Shenzhen and then take the bus directly to the airport. It costs 88 yuan per person. The schedule is as follows:
Shenzhen -- Baiyun International aiport Guangzhou
Check-in counter in Shenzhen for the Baiyun international airport in Guangzhou
The main trainstation of Shenzhen is in Luohu district near the border with Hong Kong. It has regular services to Guangzhou and long-distance trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Jiujiang, Maoming, Shantou and other destinations. Also to Hong Kong there are several trains leaving at the crossing near Luo Wu. It takes about 40 minutes by train to the center of Hong Kong and the price is about 37HK$. The second railway station (Shenzhen Xi) is in Nanshan District and is mainly used for a smaller numbe of long-distance routes.
Since 2004 Shenzhen also has a modern metro-system. The metro consists currently of fives lines (two are operational, three are under construction):
Before you take the metro, you have to buy either a precharged subway card or a one-time use green token. The ticket vending machines are all bilingual and are very easy to use with touch-screens. You simply press your destination and insert money. The maximum fare is currently 5Y for one way Luohu to Window of the World. The metro is a very fast, clean and safe way to travel in Shenzhen. Johomaps has a great clickable map of the subway of Hong Kong and Shenzhen :
Another good bilingual map of the Shenzhen metro: 
Line 1 (open since end 2004)
Line 2 (17 stations, over 20km) (under construction, scheduled for 2011)
Line 3 (8km?) (under construction, scheduled for 2011)
Line 4
Line 5 (29 stations) (under construction, scheduled for 2011)
Shenzhen Metro (Official Chinese site) Shenzhen Metro (Wikipedia) Everywhere in the city you can see work in progress for the new extensions to the Metro lines as of early 2008. When the Metro project finishes in 2011, the total length of the metro will be an impressive 178 km! The city's Metro could extend more than 420 kilometers by 2020, nearly five times as long as the current Hong Kong Metro, the municipal urban planning bureau said earlier. Eight Metro lines, including some above-ground light rail lines, will be built between 2011 and 2020.
Taxi's in Shenzhen are relatively expensive with a starting fee of 12.5¥. Taxi's are seperated in three different classes by their color: red taxi's are allowed to operate everywhere in Shenzhen, green taxis only outside the Special Economical Zone and yellow taxi's only inside the SEZ. tip: pay attention that you don't get fake money from the taxi drivers! If possible, pay exact or small money so you will not get a fake bill of 50 yuan back! Also make sure the taxi-driver starts the meter; sometimes they refuse to do so. Just get out and take the next taxi.
If you have a valid drivers licence from your home country with at least
60 days prior to expiration you can apply at the Xili Drivers Licence
Office. You can't drive with international driver's licence here in
China as they don't honor it as valid licence.
There are many buses in the city and all connections are good, but bus signs are only in the Chinese (no pinyin). Without a good map of Shenzhen or without speaking Chinese it is very difficult to use the bus. Buses are often overcrowded during rush hours. Depending on the type of bus (new air-conditioning buses are most expensive) and the distance it costs between 1 and 6 yuan. Update: since the start of 2008 it is possible to use a special transport card (for sale in the subway) for ALL busses in Shenzhen. You first need to save for example 100Y in the card. When you take the bus, there are two possibilities: - some busses have a fixed fare rate. In those busses you need to 'beep' your card in the front of the bus. - all other busses have variable rates. In these busses a ticket lady will ask you where you want to go. Make sure you know the name of the stop in Chinese! She carries a portable scanner and you need to hold out your transport card so she can 'beep' it. tip: be very careful of your poesessions in crowded buses or at busstops. Thiefs often try to strike here!
Via Shekou, Shenzhen is connected by fast ferry connections to Zhuhai, Macau, Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Kowloon and Hong Kong Island (Central). Currently there is a lot of construction work going on near the Pier in Shenzhen because of the extension of the Metro system.
Hong Kong The boat from Hong Kong to Shekou takes about one hour and leaves from 07:45 to 21:00. Tickets from Shenzhen to Hong Kong cost during the daytime for 2nd class 105 HK$ and first class 140HK$. Children below 6 pay 75HK$ and at night it costs respectively 125 HK$ and 165HK$.
Hong Kong International Airport From Shekou is takes about half an hour to reach the Hong Kong IA. Tickets from Shenzhen to HK Airport cost 240 yuan ($ 230HK) for the second class and 270 yuan ($ 260HK) for first class. Children cost 130 yuan ($ 120HK) and 140 yuan ($ 135HK) respectively. From Hong Kong to Shenzhen Airport will cost HK $ 200 for second class or HK $ 220 for first class.
Macau From Shekou it takes about an hour and twenty minutes to go to Macau. Everyday there are three boats to depart Macau, to 8:15, 11:45 and 16:45. From Macau to Shenzhen is also three times a day and at 10:00, 14:00 and 18:30. Tickets cost 120 yuan in both directions.
Zhuhai
Daily
every half hour from half past seven in the morning until half past six at
night. Tickets cost 80 yuan for ordinary class, 40 yuan to 70 yuan for
children and students from Shenzhen. From Zhuhai cost tickets
respectively 85, 43 and 75 yuan.
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