The Shanghai Long-Distance Bus Terminal, which will be constructed at a cost of 700 million yuan (US$84.3 million), will be located around the north square of Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei District, said Tian Guoyong, an official of the district's Construction and Management Commission.

The terminal, hemmed in by Hengfeng Road on the east; Kongjiamu Bridge on the west; Zhongxing Road on the south; and Jiaotong Road on the north, will occupy 30,000 square meters.

"It will be Shanghai's first modern bus transportation center, with the largest traffic flow and passenger volume in the city," Tian said.

According to his estimates, the terminal will see a total of 1,500 buses pass through daily, while handling more than 20,000 passengers arriving or leaving everyday.

Construction for the bus station will kick off in two months. To make way for it, more than 1,267 families, with 4,000 residents, and 44 companies have been or will be relocated elsewhere in the city before the end of next month.

"Local bus traffic lines running between the city and other parts of China's mainland have always played an important role in carrying passengers in and out of the city, especially during the holiday seasons," said Gu Qiwei, with the road traffic management department of the Shanghai Municipal Urban Transportation Bureau.

"But the current dispersed locations of several long-distance bus stations in the city and suburbs, as well as their dilapidated conditions, make it difficult to cope with the rising demand," Gu said.

Shanghai now has 44 long-distance bus stations, most of which are small and located in every corner of the city and suburbs, with a combined capacity of more than 8 million passengers every year.

Once the new terminal is ready, most of these lines will be transferred to the ultra-modern site.

According to the bureau's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), two more bus terminals will be built near Shanghai South Railway Station and in Pudong District.

(eastday.com October 22, 2002)