Beijing’s biggest transport hub gears up for action

Beijing's largest traffic hub in Sihui, Chaoyang district, will start operation Saturday, and is expected to be used by 410,000 passengers daily.

Sihui traffic hub, at the intersection between the East Fourth Ring Road and Jingtong Expressway, will integrate the subway, long-distance bus, taxi, city bus and bicycle systems, according to the Beijing Times.

The traffic volume is expected to reach 60,000 passengers at peak time per hour, which will exceed that of the Dongzhimen traffic hub to become the largest in the capital, where people can transfer directly to inter-provincial bus lines.　

A staff member working at the Sihui hub said it has 16 platforms and capacity for 422 buses inside the hub.

The Global Times found that it will take about three minutes from the subway station to the gate of the hub. There are many sign boards, maps and LED screens.　

"We also encourage green travel, so there's a bike parking lot, which can hold 2,000 bicycles," the staff member said.

In addition, the hub is equipped with an intelligent monitoring system to send alarms to the central command platform if too many people are waiting inside, a limit set at over five people per square meter.

A passenger, surnamed Li, who was waiting for the No.455 bus Wednesday, said that it is more convenient to catch a bus.

"We had to wait for the bus by the road in a limited space and it's not safe to cross the road under the bridge. I don't know if the increasing passenger numbers later will affect the traffic in this area, but I think it runs well now," Li said.

Zhu Tao, a transportation expert from the Beijing University of Technology, said that it is hard to tell if the hub will have a positive effect in easing traffic congestion.

"If the public transportation capacity doesn't increase, the effect of a hub to ease the traffic will be limited," he said.