Hacker News Reader

I would have greatly appreciated this bridge being open when I stayed in Macau for a few days and had to fly home out of Hong Kong. There was a lot of overhead time with the ferry -- even with the Skypier transfer (and ferries to the airport do not run every 15 minutes). We left our hotel at noon for a 6:15pm flight.

So it's essentially a bridge to the nearest international airport from Macau?

Not even that: Macau has its own international airport. While Asian destinations are well covered, you need to go to HKG for long-hauls though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_International_Airport#Ai...

That video is simply amazing. How it's not a parody is beyond me.

Cheery voice: "It's so simple and convenient!"

... while a graphical representation pops up of three government authorities in three jurisdictions together with a three-step application process that takes only 12 business days to process, after which you need to purchase the required insurance from each of the three jurisdictions... yup, crossing a bridge has never been simpler.

Not forgetting that of the two permits they send you, one expires after a year, the other after 3.

"It's so convenient!"

Most ppl will take the bus across. Also the goods will be shipped through this route for faster deliveries.

Why take a private bus over a private ferry?

Busses leaves more often and starts, stops and travel much faster than ferry.

Do they? From the original reply:

>Surely this bridge will make it faster than the 1 hour ferry ride that leaves from 2 ferry piers in the middle of the city every 15 minutes or so all day and night. Unfortunately this isn't the case. The buses across the bridge from Hong Kong leave from the airport and take 40 minutes. You'll have to take another bus from the airport to the city at the cost of another 45 to 60 minutes.

The article itself says "Ferries usually depart every one to two hours."

If you are going to the HK airport from the Shekou port in mainland China, the ferry requires you to arrive something like 3 hours ahead of your flight, even though the ferry ride itself if only 30-40 minutes. I assume a bus wouldn't dictate your schedule in that way.

You've said it yourself, for now Hong Kong is integrated into the motherland. Put a price on it. China thinks very long term

Insurance and registration reqs can be changed virtually with a signature.

The article you linked says "Ferries usually depart every one to two hours."

> The bridge, while very interesting as a large infrastructure project is laughably useless for many stakeholders.

Given the current situation you are probably right, but I'd assume the construction of the bridge is an indication that something around Macau's status or SARs in general is maybe about to change?

Aren't buses much cheaper to operate then ferries?

Maybe if you exclude the $10b cost of building the bridge...

Good, it shouldn't be for private vehicles.

Why?

It's not about people leaving hong kong/macau, but going the other way. It's for the Chinese to roll in tanks and troops in the event of an insurrection. The border routes are circuitous and easily blocked, this route is easily controllable and can be secured with little manpower.

This is a bizarre claim to make. This route would be much easier to block than any land route - it's a single bridge disappearing into a tunnel shortly off the coast of Hong Kong. It is about as easy of a choke point to block as you can get. The bridge the island goes to also only has a single bridge leading off it into the rest of Hong Kong.

It's a single bridge, going over water and underground, into an area that requires blue water presence. Choke points work both ways, easy to choke but also easy to secure. The permanent garrison of PLA in Hong Kong would be able to secure the HK side of the bridge long enough for reinforcements to get through.

China's biggest worry in this area is civil unrest, not hostile foreign powers and most of the bridge is inaccessible to potential rioters or dissidents. It's a huge game changer for the region, allowing China to move initial response troops into the area much faster. (30 min vs 4 hours)

Right, who has even heard of amphibious landing ships. Not like they need them in any case, since they happen to have the fastest amphibian armored vehicle in the world.

But you are either trolling here or way too deep into conspiracy theories to care for facts.

Expensive, and looks like a military invasion to the outside world as compared to moving troops over a bridge. China isn't stupid, they built this bridge for a very good strategic reason.

>You need to get vehicle registration plates (some "electronic" or temporary) in 3 jurisdictions. You also need insurance for 3 jursidictions.

well, the bridge does put a political pressure on that situation. One China in all senses would make it more convenient.

Until that, the Uber Roaming with autonomous cars, one is taking you to the border, the another is already waiting to pick you up, a convergence of taxi and rental, will solve that issue in the meantime.

> Until that, the Uber Roaming with autonomous cars, one is taking you to the border, the another is already waiting to pick you up, a convergence of taxi and rental, will solve that issue in the meantime.

I highly doubt that 'in the meantime' includes the present. Autonomous cars are science fiction, not fact.

This bridge actually seems like a reasonable place to put self-driving cars. It's a closed road with no intersections, just get in a car on one side, and jump off at the other. Just like a bus, but private and on demand.

I'm sure that the current generation of self driving technology could handle that fairly well.