The one-way fare to ride the shuttle bus between Zhuhai and Hong Kong will be set at HK$80 (US$12.70) according to Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Shuttle Bus (Guangdong) Co Ltd.

The company, a consortium of Zhuhai Yuegong Xinhai Transportation, HZMB Shuttle Bus Services and HZM Land Transportation (Macao), opened its bus logistics base on 28 March.

Unveiled by SCMP.com, Shun Tak – the main HK-Macau ferry operator – is part of the consortium. Pansy Ho, managing director of Shun Tak, announced in the company’s 2017 Annual Results Announcement on 27 March that the company has participated via its subsidiary in the consortium which has succeeded in the tender.

It is reported that the first batch of 20 double-decker buses and 100 single-decker buses have been purchased. The vehicles are imported from Germany with all passenger seats equipped with three-point seat belt security measures.

Bearing a gold livery, there are three characters “港珠澳” at the front indicating Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau. The buses are right-hand drive with passenger doors on both the left and right sides.

The HZM shuttle bus will be divided into the Hong Kong-Zhuhai line and the Hong Kong-Macau line, serving passengers traveling between the ports on the HZM Bridge. It is currently estimated that the journey between Zhuhai and Hong Kong International Airport will take approximately 45 minutes.

Between 90 and 140 buses will run daily between the border checkpoints of the three cities, with another 30 buses available as backup. They will depart every five minutes at peak hours and every 10 to 15 minutes in non-peak hours. A night service will see buses leaving every 15 to 30 minutes. The buses will operate 24 hours a day.

According to China Daily, the HZM Bridge is expected to open in May or June this year.

The opening of the HZM Bridge will help promote the flow of people and logistics in the Greater Bay Area and will bring a lot of development opportunities with regards to tourism, finance, commerce and logistics industries in the three places.

As the only mainland Free Trade Zone linked to Hong Kong and Macau, Hengqin, with its unique geographical advantages and transportation network, will become a gathering place of economic resources in the Greater Bay Area, a platform of deep cooperation between the three places and a new city center of the “Bridge Economic Zone” in the next five to 10 years.