Smooth going for Futian Flexi-trip

The "Flexi-trip" arrangement for travelers to freely change their High Speed Rail trip to Futian in Shenzhen for up to three times went smoothly on its first day.

It took travelers only about five minutes to alter their itinerary yesterday.

At West Kowloon Station, staff members were deployed near the 13 ticket machines at the concourse and the eight Flexi-trip self-service points at the departure concourse to provide assistance to passengers opting to switch to another train.

Banners were also put up to remind passengers while an inquiries counter was set up.

Passengers can make three last-minute changes to their High Speed Rail trips 45 minutes before or an hour after the train departs free of charge.

But the arrangement covers only train trips between West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen's Futian Station. Some travelers hoped the arrangement could cover other train trips so that they could get on another train easily even after missing their scheduled train due to problems like road traffic to the station.

A traveler, Miss He, who had not been visiting Hong Kong for a long time due to the pandemic, said the arrangement was good.

"In the past, we could never be on time for the train when we were bringing kids along for the trip, and we would need to go through complicated procedures at the ticketing counters," she said.

But now the arrangement was better than the mainland as changing the train trip did not require an administrative charge and she hoped Guangxi could also enjoy the Flexi-trip arrangement.

A traveler said the arrangement was not flexible enough as many business travelers might need to change their travel plans to other parts of China due to emergency meetings.

Under the new arrangement, passengers might need to stand in the train for their journey if there were no seats left, but there were no handrails and passengers had to stand in the aisle. Some travelers worried that it might be unsafe. "Standing in the aisle is very unsafe, as the aisle is already so narrow, and there are people walking around; this arrangement is not that satisfactory," a passenger said.

Passenger So said the arrangement was convenient and he did not have a problem, even without a seat.

"Even if I have to stand, it is just 14 minutes. I will arrive at the station in no time," So said.

Lawmaker Ben Chan Han-pan, who is the chairman of the Legislative Council's transport panel, was there to inspect the situation in the afternoon, and he said the new arrangement provided flexibility to passengers.