Approaching its first anniversary, the "Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles" scheme has attracted at least one in seven eligible Hong Kong private cars.

The scheme, launched on July 1, 2023, allows eligible Hong Kong private cars to travel between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), facilitating Hong Kong residents' short-term travel to Guangdong for business, visiting family or sightseeing.

"As of mid-June this year, more than 640,000 eligible Hong Kong private cars had traveled northbound via the HZMB with valid permits; that is, about one in seven eligible Hong Kong private cars had participated in the scheme," said Lam Sai-hung, secretary for transport and logistics of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, in an interview with Chinanews.com.

Statistics from the border inspection station of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge showed that the number of Kong Kong residents traveling northbound by driving private cars has continued to rise since the official implementation of the scheme, and more than 950,000 cross-border trips had been made by 4 p.m. on June 30, with the number of driver registrations reaching over 82,000 and car registrations over 67,000.

Noting that northbound travel is popular with Hong Kong residents, Lam said the HKSAR government has continued to improve the scheme and maintained close communication with relevant mainland authorities to enhance the HZMB's customs clearance capacity over the past year.

With Zhuhai Port of the HZMB optimizing the port facilities, including increasing the number of passenger car inspection channels and improving the efficiency of facility inspection and release, Lam said they are expected to bring a convenient travel experience to Hong Kong residents traveling northbound.

The Zhuhai highway port also recently installed electronic toll collection (ETC) service points for Hong Kong and Macao residents for the first time to facilitate private car owners' travel northward.

On June 15, the first high-speed sleeper train from Hong Kong to Beijing departed from Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station. The new train service runs between Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station and Beijing West Railway Station every Friday to Monday, shortening the travel between Beijing and Hong Kong from 24.5 hours to about 12.5 hours.

Lam, who was once responsible for the 26-kilometer Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway project, said he will continue to optimize its services and promote Hong Kong's better integration into the country's overall development.