China’s Economic Confidence | This “large subway” connects the new transportation pattern in the Bay Area
Today’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is becoming more and more like “a city”.
On May 26, the Guangzhou-Foshan Southern Ring Railway and the Foshan-Dongguan intercity railway were officially put into operation. They are connected in series with the already-operated Dongguan-Huizhou and Foshan-Zhaozhou intercity railways, and together they build a 258-kilometer transportation artery spanning five cities. Starting from Panyu, Guangzhou, it takes 30 minutes to reach Foshan and Dongguan, and 60 minutes to Zhaoqing and Huizhou. Among them, at 7 stations including Shunde North Station, Panyu Station, Guangzhou Chimelong Station, and Xiping West Station, passengers can easily transfer to Foshan, Guangzhou, and Dongguan subways.
Different from traditional intercity railways, this line is known as the "large subway in the Greater Bay Area".
The key point here is that one of the highlights of this line is that “taking an intercity bus is like taking a subway”. Under the operation mode of "station-stop Dazhan Express", passengers can come and go without having to buy tickets in advance. It also supports the use of local transportation cards to swipe cards or scan QR codes to board the train, which is convenient and fast. It can be said that whether it is operation management, operating frequency, convenient payment, or barrier-free transfer, this line is as "silky" as taking the subway.
The same is across cities, "subway accessible" and "intercity accessible", the psychological feelings are undoubtedly very different. Just imagine, after having breakfast, you swipe your transportation card in front of your home and take the subway. Half an hour later, you arrive at your company in another city and start your day's work - when crossing cities becomes routine and easy, the "intercity subway" opens What is going on is actually the general trend of "integration" of the two cities.
The story of "Guangfo City" also started from a subway line. The Guangfo Metro, which was officially opened in November 2010, is the first intercity subway in China that crosses prefecture-level administrative districts. Over the years, more than half of the passenger traffic has been commuters by "Guangfo migratory birds". The "2022 Guangzhou Transportation Development Annual Report" released last year shows that in 2022, the total number of cross-city commuters in the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area will be 1.18 million, with an average daily trip volume of 5.42 million, accounting for 21% of the province's 21 prefecture-level cities. 70% of the total travel volume - millions of cross-city commuting needs, objectively requires the Greater Bay Area to become more like "a city".
But the pattern of the Greater Bay Area is obviously more than just “cross-city commuting”.
First of all, it can be seen from the scale. There are similar attempts to "subway" intercity railways in other urban agglomerations, but this is the first time in China that the Greater Bay Area has run through 258 kilometers and spanned five cities at once. The "Guangzhou Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Plan" issued in April this year further clarified that Guangzhou should strengthen rail connections with Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Qingyuan, Huizhou and other cities, and promote the Nansha-Zhuhai intercity, Foshan-Guangzhou-Dongguan intercity Waiting for planning and construction. It is foreseeable that the "one network, one ticket, one string of cities" operating model will more closely connect the urban agglomerations in the Greater Bay Area on a larger scale.
The goal of "Lu Tong" is "Financial Tong". Nowadays, the "1-hour economic circle" in the Greater Bay Area is accelerating. Wherever the track extends, the efficient and convenient flow of logistics, people, capital, information, etc. will further promote the co-construction of industries and the sharing of people's livelihood in the cities along the line. Deeply integrate, promote complementary advantages at a higher level, and attract talents, funds, and industries from across the country and even the world to gather in the Greater Bay Area.
One network, one ticket, a string of cities, the accelerating "Greater Bay Area Large Subway" reinterprets the distance between cities in time and space, and the beautiful integrated picture of the Greater Bay Area has become increasingly clear.
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