The $18.8 Bil, Borderline Useless Bridge Between Hong Kong and Macau

[@BetastuffXyzFORUM]

You should make a half as interesting video on how NordVPN didn't disclose a data breach to customers, and how they spend more money getting KZbinrs to market their overrated product than they do on security for it.

[@HexCopper]

So a VPN service was data breached and that data was *checks notes* Limited to Finland Only data for 3 months No user credentials The data was MitM data missing half the location (either only where the data went or that the data was going the NordVPN) It was a 3rd party data center All in all seems like Nord doesn’t keep logs of where their users went or at the very least doesn’t give those logs to a third party Not trying to glaze Nord. You DEFINITELY don’t need a VPN unless you want to stream shows from other countries. LMG did a WAN show on why they wanted to, but couldn’t, make a VPN

[@IanHobday]

If something is advertised by a KZbinr, I automatically assume it's a scam.

[@isaactan3026]

@@IanHobday same as nebula lmao

[@OryxTheMadGod3]

@@HexCopper and it happened over 4 years ago

[@lucidattf]

@@isaactan3026 youre delusional

[@MrRodrigocv]

As a resident of Macau, I use this bridge all the time, and most of the time the bus I come in is full. Because even though not a lot of people drive on it, a huge number of people use the public bus service because it's like 60% cheaper than the ferry. The ferry is far too expensive for what it offers. Also, it takes the same amount of time as the ferry, people just complain that it only goes to lantau, but it's a bridge it connects the closer point of Macau to the closer point in Hong Kong. You can take a bus (private company) from the center of Macau to the center of Hong Kong if you want to, it takes around 2 hours, without this bridge you wouldn't be able to do that. Not to mention the added bonus of connecting zhuhai also.

[@calvincoolidge1207]

I lived in Zhuhai and liked visiting Hong Kong. The expensive ferry made me visit HK a lot less than I would have if the cheap buses were available then.

[@JimS3934]

Also useful for day trips from Macau/Zhuhai to HK Disney. And it makes flying out of HK airport 10 times easier for Macau an Zhuhai residents than the old airport ferries which were expensive and infrequent.

[@SpiritsBB]

They don’t want to hear it. Macau and Hong Kongers don’t agree, but westerners just listen to crap and agrees just because.

[@jonahmakay8647]

I lived in Hong Kong and although more infrastructure should be welcomed. The bridge is way too expensive. HK contributed a lot of money on this but realistically not controlling the bridge. There are tolls for using the bridge but it'll take forever to be financially recoverable. It does not make sense to spend that much for a 30 minute shorter journey.

[@saturnv2419]

It is easier to go from Macau because it is a much smaller place. The reverse is a logistic nightmare you might as well take the ferry.

[@andrewcheng1998]

Context: Cars in Hong Kong is more or less a luxury than a necessity unlike most places. The territory is just too small justify having a car for most people, and the public transport work quite well. Most buses and subway are on time within minutes and taxi fare is not overly expensive. And we have Double-Decker Bus

[@JoeJoe-wv6de]

Double decker bus gang 🇬🇧❤🇭🇰

[@HayaYuki]

pause the taxi is defo over expensive

[@hudziszeq]

buses also expensive af.

[@Ash-vt7uu]

Not to mention the money for buying private parking lots cost more than a house in other countries

[@johnsnow5125]

@JoeJoe-wv6de they have double deckler buses in places like Vienna. The original ones from London, I think. Only really used for sightseeing tours, though. Random side note, Utrecht in the NL used or still uses old tram cars from Vienna

[@fiaviy.5298]

The bridge itself makes sense. It's just too troublesome and expensive on the logistics side for average car owners. But when it comes to big buses and trucks, which you didn't mention that in the video, it's far from useless.

[@cosmogally1964]

The bridge doesnt make sense, travel time was not cut between main HK areas to Macau / Zhuhai and there's a new bridge anyway connecting both sides of the delta (ZS-SZ bridge) that opened a few years later

[@1lyxbollyvykn714]

China could use trains and sure they know how to build them. The bridge is just a way to integrate hk further into china

[@jasoncheng2735]

@@cosmogally1964you can't compare them like that. The latter connects 2 parts of the same country (territory without borders) where as the HMZ bridge connects 3 different territories. Driving from between the borders is far more complicated than it is in other countries as well. There are 3 border crossings from HK to SZ, but you cant use them unless you have one of the license plates/permits worth up to $1-2mil HKD.

[@evjq]

4:43

[@zakf2929]

He mentioned that you can get buses across it though and that it's just easier to take a ferry instead of the bus.

[@matthiaswolfe9435]

I reject this assertion. I love going amateur gambling directly after a day of professional gambling at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

[@pan2aja]

LOL... Underated comment. Could you just gambling on crypto. Or are they somehow different

[@ancova1183]

You're thinking too small. You do what Bill Benter did in 1984. You learn how to card-count at MIT, get blacklisted from Las Vegas, Morocco, and Macau, then go earn billions with Hong Kong horse racing, before you become a professor in economics.

[@vinching926]

@@ancova1183 Horse racing is insane here, you can't really rig that unless you're already in the trainer parties.

[@return6005]

5:20 yeah, serious carpooling is actually happening. They're called buses. From my time living in hk, most ppl now travel to hk using the regular bus service that crosses the bridge. Very few ppl in hk have private vehicles anyway since public transport is so good in hk

[@klhkdkk2568]

As a resident of Hong Kong, even though I live very close to the ferry port in Hong Kong, I prefer taking the bus over the bridge as it's significantly cheaper and not that much slower. The buses also run all night long, whereas the ferry stops before midnight.

[@Billius_Bobae]

Taking the bus does seem like it would avoid a lot of the problems. Would you say taking the bus is popular or becoming so?

[@klhkdkk2568]

@Billius_Bobae If you live in the Northern Territories or Kowloon, you save less time with the ferry, so the bus is relatively more popular. If you live on Hong Kong island, I think the ferry is significantly more popular.

[@Barceman]

The ferry used to serve 24/7 before the bridge

[@wpgc2]

@@klhkdkk2568 Exactly, when you are in HK, take the ferry. Otherwise take the gold bus. Glad to hear local speaks up to correct the misinformation.

[@iqbalbhayangkara3816]

So the buses operates 24/7? Planning to go to Macau for a 1 day trip from HK. Thanks!!

[@pineapplesareyummy6352]

You complete missed the fact ALMOST NO ONE drives in Hong Kong and Macau. These are some of the densest cities in the world. Only the rich can afford a car, because there is nowhere to park one (a parking space is effectively owning another apartment). Everyone use public transport. As for buses and trucks, they do use the bridge, and for whom the the bridge was built for, not private vehicles.

[@electricalinput5999]

Still dumb how you need three license plates on the back of your car (one from hong kong, one from china, and one from macau) if you want to drive from hong kong to macau.

[@timothystamm3200]

So then it definitely should have a rail line if they actually want people to use this bridge.

[@kencube86]

@@electricalinput5999Because of the agreement between British, Portugese and Chinese governments when Hong Kong and Macau were handovered to China. The Chinese government promised Hong Kong and Macau are self administred for 50 years. Three places have three different systems. There are no plan to combine three systems currently.

[@pineapplesareyummy6352]

​@@electricalinput5999 That's because Guangdong, Macau and Mainland are still legally three different systems. It's like why a car from outside the EU would have two number plates when driving in the EU.

[@yensteel]

​@@pineapplesareyummy6352 Macau and HK are also based on UK road systems. You get on the left side of the bus

[@WKS32]

On today’s episode of Sam forgets Buses and Trucks Exist…

[@Jose.AFT.Saddul]

The Ferry is still the most popular public transport between both territories

[@Fay7666]

Both of which can fit on _ferries._ This is the reason why America doesn't build interstate rail, for such distances its just easier to put everyone on a plane than building out all of the infrastructure to make rail not a niche project. Exceptions abound, the Northeast, California, Florida, Texas, the Great Lakes, but besides most of these (a few of them non-existent or stuck in NIMBY hell) it's just easier to build airports and surrounding infrastructure to stuff more people into planes.

[@WKS32]

@@Fay7666 Tell me you've never taken Cotai Water Jet or TurboJet ferries without telling me you've never taken those ferries. No buses or trucks will fit on those. the HK-MO-CN ferries are very much people-centric.

[@leolardoo]

@@WKS32 Agreed. The 港珠澳大桥 is being grossly underestimated in this video. It's super easy to take on bus, and massively improved integration between HK and the greater pearl river delta. The services from each port (i.e. buses or taxis) on the HK, Macau, and Zhuhai are also so convenient. This video does seem like a bit of the 'foreigner asserts claim on something that is thousands of kilometres away' vibe.

[@vinching926]

It's not half as interesting, it's hilariously interesting. HZMB / Shenzhen-Zhongshan and already existing Humen Bridges are working together for all the buses and trucks from nearby cities across the channel to other places in GBA, not to mention they're just a short part of a even longer interstate highway. Both new bridges are useful as hell and one going down would be a pain in the arse.

[@zukaro]

7:03 How about I wisely DON'T waste my money on NordVPN.

[@xcmledder3420]

What vpn service do you recommend?

[@screwaccountnames]

@@xcmledder3420 Most people in most situation just don't need a VPN. If you're travelling internationally and/or your country has restrictive content blocking policies, it might become useful, but I imagine most viewers of this channel don't actually fall under those categories. If you do actually need a VPN, I guess you could do worse than signing up with NordVPN, but they're just one company in a space where there's a lot of similar companies and products.

[@winstonhsu1927]

​@@xcmledder3420Depends on your use for a VPN, as different ones have different strengths. I usually use them when I go visit China, so I use LetsVPN which consistently works plus is cheap. Many others including Nord don't work for this purpose.

[@safetytfh]

@@xcmledder3420 None unless your goal is getting around georestrictions, or tunneling back to your home country as an endpoint while abroad.

[@antiquehealbot6543]

There was 97% cashback during black Firday with Rakuten. That's when I got it.

[@josephwang5859]

I don't think the bridge is useless at all. It doesn't have much traffic but the traffic that does go across it are buses, and the bridge vastly reduces the time it takes from getting from Hong Kong to Macau. Before the bridge, you would have to go to Central and then take a ferry, and with the bridge you can take any bus to the port interchange, switch buses, and then go to Macau. The other thing is that it's generated a ton of economic activity in Zhuhai.

[@indefatigablematt]

There is a traffic jam coming back from Zhuhai to Hong Kong every weekend, so there is plenty of traffic!

[@skpracta]

@@indefatigablemattthe bottle neck is at the Chinese border control and the toll booths😂 The bridge is designed to handle mainly freight and bus traffic, and yet the usage is so low that they start to allow Macau and Hong Kong registered cars to enter Guangdong via the border control point wt HZMB.

[@SodaWithoutSparkles]

It is important to note that most Hongkongers don't own a car. Most people just take the public transit. The primary method of getting thru the borders are buses and railways. This bridge also serve as a cargo link, and it is part of a bigger system of bridges in the Greater Bay Area.

[@Enoch916]

If it was a cheaper bridge, it would have been justified. However, there are only marginally benefits over the other methods of travelling (e.g. cheaper fares for buses over ferry) for that 19 billion us dollar price tag.

[@huihungtat9194]

Overpriced? Maybe, Useless? Absolutely Nah. I love this channel but this one is just off the mark. This video just missed that the flexibility of shuttle bus service and cutting 1-2 hour traffic time to zhuhai makes one day round trip to zhuhai and surrounding area much more feasible. In fact, there are real concerns that hk ppl will just spend weekends & buy their daily products in China, tanking the already under weather hk economy. Just yesterday I had dinner in zhuhai at around 7pm and back to Kowloon at like 10:30pm instead of hustling for ferry at 4-5pm when i was a child. And the dinner was 1/3 price of hk.😅

[@christianbro2]

The bus is quite convenient and cheap compared to the ferry, besides the fact that you have to take two more busses in Hong Kong and Macau

[@jackyeung3677]

Direct buses available too. Way more expensive though

[@Ataniphor]

yeah, but if it was only going to be run by public transportation with a set route, you might as well have just made a train instead.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@Ataniphor A rail bridge would be even more expensive, and not nearly as flexible. You're ignoring, just as this video did, the tons of cargo that this bridge also facilitates. And no, a rail bridge (that also goes underwater for part of its length) that's also suited for cargo trains is even more of a nightmare - a road handles all of that without any extra hassle. There already are rail and air connections anyway, the former just go through the mainland. Which makes sense for cargo btw.

[@hkrumble]

Calling this bridge useless speaks more to the video authors’ ignorance. I’m a Hong Konger. This bridge is an absolute game changer. Being able to drive directly to Macau from HK and vice versa whenever I want 24/7 is an absolute game changer. Previously, we all had to take a high speed ferry and were subject to long waiting times and rigid ferry schedules. Sure, the bridge may not be as busy now due to the logistics of trying to integrate customs and differing laws of 3 different legal jurisdictions etc but it will get easier over time. This bridge is and will continue to be a vital transportation link.

[@3rdalbum]

Oh yeah, the logistics will get much easier once China drops the whole "one country, two systems" pretense.

[@Fay7666]

Thing is that if you're able to _drive_ on the bridge, you're likely already 0.001%

[@chuheihkg]

Absolutely right. It is said paperwork is major problem. This shall be eased later.

[@cheu1533]

That's a pretty biased perspective from an American. We don't travel in car but by public transport instead. This explains why the figure is not that big comparing to brifges in US and EU. But I do agree there are a lot of space to improve on minimizing the time at the boarders.

[@raykan3643]

It’s not just useless. As a person from HK , the shuttle buses operating between HK and Macau and Zhuhai provides another choice to go to another side. The price is just like 60HKD . But taking a ferry will cost around 150HKD

[@mr.alexiegaming9548]

As someone who used to live in the region, I am really really confused on why they didn't include a high speed railway as part of the bridge... a direct HSR between Hong Kong and Macau/Juhai would have been really really useful.

[@someonestolemyname]

Exactly what I was thinking when I was crossing the bridge on a bus and see how empty it is. I thought that they might as well make a rail bridge, if the elevation between tunnel and bridge sections allows. As having a car is more of a luxury in Hong Kong.

[@Enoch916]

The bridge includes huge slopes and trains don't climb well.

[@mr.alexiegaming9548]

@@Enoch916 true, HSR don't climb well. But I still think normal trains going around 200km/h (D-class trains in China) should still be able to work fine

[@johanneswerner7649]

HSR can do 4% gradient. I doubt the bridge exceeds this.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

A rail bridge would be even more expensive, and not nearly as flexible. You're ignoring, just as this video did, the tons of cargo that this bridge also facilitates. And no, a rail bridge (that also goes underwater for part of its length) that's also suited for cargo trains is even more of a nightmare - a road handles all of that without any extra hassle. There already are rail and air connections anyway, the former just go through the mainland. Which makes sense for cargo btw.

[@wonderpotato1234]

As a resident in Macau with a lot of family in HK, the bridge is very convenient for both drivers and non drivers. The public buses are quicker and cheaper than the ferry and also run 24/7. Most of this video should be tossed out simply by looking at the number of ferries going between HK and Macau decreasing the second the bridge opened.

[@chuheihkg]

Reallly depending on where you are.

[@ax-uo5hd]

It is definitely not useless, as someone who is living there lots of people use it to commute and transport cargo.

[@grapesofwrath1984]

“Borderline useless”? Really? I always use it and thousands use it everyday. Surely beats taking the boat and definitely the helicopter. It’s actually this video that’s borderlines useless.

[@alexmarcweiss]

Took the bus from Macau to Hong Kong airport across the bridge earlier this year. Actually thought it was more convenient than the ferry if you are flying out of Hong Kong. The border crossings in Zhuhai and Hong Kong were very streamlined. Luggage drop off for the bus was easy. The bridge itself was mostly empty. However, loved the views and the overall experience.

[@Feuerhamster]

Bridge video when it's "western" country: How this BRIDGE is an AMAZING feat of ENGINEERING Bridge video when it's slightly to the south and/or east: How this USELESS DUMB BRIDGE is RUINING everything, everywhere, forever

[@soasertsus]

This seems like a biased perspective, love them or hate them one of the things the Chinese government does best is long term planning. Even if the bridge is nowhere near capacity now, in the future at some point it will definitely become extremely useful and they're getting ahead of the curve by getting it in place early as opposed to the way the US handles infrastructure investment which is to wait until it's way too late and the existing transportation infrastructure is so overcrowded that it's a massive problem. Ultimately all that's needed to immediately make the bridge usable is some bureaucratic agreements between the local governments to allow each other's drivers licenses and local services to apply, even just for the bridge crossing portion, and when it becomes necessary that's a lot easier to work out than to build a whole bridge. They should have put a rail line on it though.

[@wpgc2]

It is already quite useful, the bridge moves over 2 million passengers per month and utilization rate is keep going up. They had over 20k vehicles daily during busiest days. The video based on outdated data and North America mentality that no one takes public transit.

[@calvincoolidge1207]

Very good point. You see some metro stops at remote villages. However, the government knows certain cities are booming and in 10 years, those areas will have housing estates. It is much cheaper building ahead of time. Florida is an example of the govt. not planning ahead and then spending huge amounts to fix the problems.

[@chuheihkg]

Haven't they forgotten plan in advance? In Asian talks or In Brazilian talks, If you spot one bamboo branch go wrong (that is flower grown), then something must go wrong. It's not just PRC talk.

[@aryanthakur5093]

Missed the one hundred in 127 billion-Yuan 0:49

[@SKAOG21]

another mistake for the mistakes video

[@Connor_Roush]

They’re not putting a train track? Lmao.

[@shawnjoseph4009]

Robert Moses approves this useless bridge without trains

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

A rail bridge would be even more expensive, and not nearly as flexible. You're ignoring, just as this video did, the tons of cargo that this bridge also facilitates. And no, a rail bridge (that also goes underwater for part of its length) that's also suited for cargo trains is even more of a nightmare - a road handles all of that without any extra hassle. There already are rail and air connections anyway, the former just go through the mainland. Which makes sense for cargo btw.

[@shawnjoseph4009]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn considering China has a really well developed rail network it is a little bit baffling there isn’t a rail link on this bridge

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@shawnjoseph4009 If you have a well developed rail network, you have less need for more rail. They can just use the rail that already exists.

[@alexxie6963]

​@@shawnjoseph4009 And since China is so good at building railways they also know where *not* to build one

[@urldroidsuperbot2139]

Sam, if the Chinese government is not allowing a lot of people to use the bridge, it is by design. Outsiders will not know the inner reasons, compulsions, projections of the Chinese government. If everyone in Hong Kong is allowed to drive to Macau as I had expected when I visited and the bridge was under construction, there will be no need for the ferry service. One might think what does tiny Macau have that Hong Kong doesn't? The answer is - Casinos. Macau is the world's largest gaming centre, many times larger than Las Vegas. The next question could be , "how come casinos will attract so many people everyday? Then you don't know the Chinese propensity to gamble and the fact that legal gambling only happens in Macau, nowhere else in China. People of Zhuhai regularly come to shop in Macau for imported goods not available in mainland China or possibly expensive from Zhuhai. They partake in gambling, seeing strip shows and go back. All casinos have a pick up point where you can see the mainland Chinese queueing up in the late evenings to go back to Zhuhai. The same thing should be available to Hong Kongers if there are bus routes and the bridge is open.

[@yackawaytube]

Wrong. Not everyone in Hong Kong has a car, you know?

[@urldroidsuperbot2139]

@yackawaytube I have written bus, not car. Zhuhai people come in buses from Zhuhai, also taxis at the border, and go to the casinos. Around 9pm or so, they queue up to go back home and avail the free coach service the casinos have to drop them at the border.

[@the0ne809]

the Chinese govt said to Macau the other day that they should diversify its economy away from gambling. Gambling is bad in most cases so I assume China may try to band it years down the road.

[@georgebrantley776]

So then, why build the bridge at all in the first place?

[@BS-vx8dg]

It's a pain to use now because of the "One country, two systems" rule, but *a)* that agreement expires in 2047, and *b)* China is clearly moving toward annulling that agreement even earlier. China has taken away Hong Kong's free expression rights, has violated its self-government rights, and so making everyone drive on the right side of the road is no big deal. I predict that by 2030, China will create a Schengen Area type arrangement for the Pearl River Delta and then drivers in Hong Kong will be able to cross the bridge without any of those customs issues and _then_ the bridge will no longer be so empty of traffic.

[@xiphoid2011]

Bridges need to maintained and cost lots of money. 25 years of maintain cost is likely just as much as the building cost.

[@BS-vx8dg]

@@xiphoid2011 I genuinely love your name. My high school anatomy teacher was always telling us to be extremely careful when doing the Heimlich Maneuver that we makes sure we did not strike the xiphoid process, lest we kill the person instead of saving their life.

[@p24ify]

It's a white elephant project.

[@danielb2571]

Shiny new cool thing brought to you by the over controlling power of the CCP.

[@MrNicoJac]

Annulling that agreement earlier is a lot easier if you could send in some tanks. And those go across a bridge much easier than having to get on a ferry. But maybe I'm being too cynical?

[@ArchOfWinter]

The toll money collected goes to Mainland organizations, but maintenance cost still paid by the Hong Kong government (tax payers). Very colonial sounding policy. Practicality wise, the bridge is hard to get to in both HK and Macau, only via afew bus lines. On the HK side, their metro's airport express lines has a station that could be one short bridge away, but they never included a station into the border control checkpoint island design, so one can't even be added in later. Additionally, even if they didn't add high speed rail into the bridge, the conventional rail HK use can still cut down the travel time across the bridge in half.

[@keiyakins]

But Hong Kong is physically adjacent to China so it's okay for Beijing to be a colonial power! /s

[@mxn1948]

hong kong doesnt pay a single penny in taxes to the central government nor does it contribute anything to the defense fund. Hong Kong has it good.

[@superstraight2667]

Over 95% of water and power is supplied by the Mainland too

[@UnderstandingCode]

@@mxn1948 Narrator seeing the response to the Hong Kong protests: It did not.

[@noobymooby-ty8gh]

​@@keiyakins you're the type of person to support britain keeping hongkong and say it's not colonization unironically

[@jackyeung3677]

As a local Hongkonger, I don't think the bridge is useless cuz many passengers pass through the bridge every day using public buses while ferries are only convenient to those living in Hong Kong Island, but not Kowloon Peninsula or New Territories. The problem is the bridge is way too expensive 🤷🏻‍♂️ doesn't make any sense financially

[@Barceman]

I don't know if you know that we use to have ferry departing from TST serving the population in Kowloon and NT. Those ferry terminals are closer to most part of HK than the bridge

[@jackyeung3677]

​​@@Barcemanit just takes much shorter time for me to get to the bridge despite the much longer distance 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@jackyeung3677]

​@@Barceman It just takes much shorter time for me to get to the bridge despite the longer distance

[@robertewalt7789]

The bridge was primarily a chance for the CCP to demonstrate their engineering skills.

[@jackyeung3677]

​​@@robertewalt7789Also for taking away Hk taxpayers' money

[@lucashfaria98]

I've crossed this bridge for a day-trip to Macau from Hong Kong. I simply took a bus. It was cheap and efficient, and the bus was crowded, even though it was Jan 2023 and some covid restrictions were still in place. There was not much traffic and the border crossing was pretty effective, even though there were lots of people in line. I took the subway to get to the bus station in HK, then took a bus when I arrived in Macau, again, very effective. If the ferry was my only option, I'd have to spend way more money and time, and it would be harder to find a seat to return on the same day as I did.

[@superstraight2667]

Calls useless, finally we have international cargo access from Hong Kong's ports via road instead of having it brought over by ferry which costs more. 35 min commute instead of over an hour ferry ride. Great access to Hong Kong's bigger airport since Macau's services only local South East Asia flights most of the time.

[@Fay7666]

Does cargo really need the 25min savings? Is it cheaper than not just driving around to the commercial land border?

[@buntyman1053]

@1:27 The Eiffel Tower is famously made of iron, not steel, so presumably this bridge actually contains WAY more steel than 60 Eiffel Towers?

[@bosniakedisniksic]

Steel is an alloy of iron so it would be fewer Eiffel towers if you want pure iron. But it wouldn't be much of a difference since it's only at most a difference of 2% carbon added.

[@ancova1183]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Zhuhai Bridge bus tour for mainland Chinese who cross the bridge from Macau, and then just do a loop around the island before heading back to Zhuhai. It was immensely popular during the pandemic, and let mainland Chinese get close to HK without a visa.

[@trainlagthegame]

0:48 127 billion, not 27

[@lam1991hahaha]

The bridge is actually useful. If you take the bus, it’s 1/3 the price of the ferry. And if you are 65 and above you get half price. And time-wise it’s similar if you include all the waiting time and traveling time to the bridge. But it’s really not worth to drive your own car

[@MGZetta]

For Americans, buses are mythical creature. So go easy on them for not knowing it. They rediscovered trains but they think it's bad for them because their oil companies said trains don't look like cars or can fly.

[@datdamnmonkey]

The bridge itself makes sense, it cuts the travel time between HK and Macau significantly. I once took the bus across this bridge to Macau because the ferry was not running that day due to the weather. If the bridge was not there I wouldn't have had the chance to visit Macau. What is bothersome is the bureaucracy behind it, but that goes beyond the bridge. For example, I couldn't withdraw money from my Mainland Chinese bank account in Macau because my account was associated with my foreign passport. The lady at the bank said I had to go to Zhuhai (the closest Mainland city) to be able to withdraw money. I was able to use HK dollars and Yuans in Macau because they accept those in addition to the local Patacas. HK, Macau and Mainland China just have to find a way to streamline more the bureaucracy between each region.

[@delta006yt]

3:00 Anyone noticed the truck going backwards?

[@BS-vx8dg]

Nice try, Delta, but actually that's a special kind of truck specifically designed for this route; it has the driver's cab placed on the *_back_* of the trailer to further complicate matters and thus discourage driving over the bridge.

[@SenshiSunPower]

It's got two fronts. I think it's made for this edge case, like a train.

[@UltimateAzumanger]

gotta love reversed footage!

[@henriqueaugustus1761]

It's TENET technology. It's going backwards in time.

[@jameswootton1688]

You lost 100 billion Yuan. You could've built 5 useless bridges with that!

[@superstraight2667]

Macau pays that back from gambling taxes in less than 5 years. Monetary Circulation.

[@kansaibeyond]

I know tons of my family & friends who live in Hong Kong who would take the bus to Macau, because as others say, most people in Hong Kong don't own a car anyway. And good alternative to people who don't like the boat due to seasickness and infrequency. The buses are extremely frequent. The only issue with the bus is, according to my Macau friend - the road to the bus terminus in Macau is ALWAYS jammed with traffic as it bottlenecks at one point. There's also no local hotel shuttle nor direct local bus (you'd have to change buses depending where you are) to the bus terminus.

[@OldGeezer101]

all the big casinos have shuttle buses at HZMB port, just hard to figure out where and when to board them to get out. I'm pretty sure both the Wynn in downtown and Cotai have them going there. The last time I let Apple/Google maps tell me which bus to take to get to back to HZMB, only 6 MOP every time I change to a different bus

[@57ttocs]

I went over this bridge in October this year! It cut travel time between Hong Kong and my in laws village in half! What was a full travel day is now an afternoon joirney.

[@EdwardM-t8p]

I don't know why Half as Interesting thinks this bridge was not worth building. After all we in the US have built the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, the I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge and Tunnel (twice!), the I-664 Hampton Roads Bridge and Tunnel, the Julia Tuttle Causeway, the Sunshine Skyway, the Gandy Bridge, the Frankland Bridge, the Overseas Highway, the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, the Mackinac Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Verazzano, Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridge, the Newport-Jamestown Bridge, the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska.

[@jessetorres8738]

Trivia note: The U.S. game show The Amazing Race has been on for 36 Seasons, they have been to China for 9 of them (1, 6, 10, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, & 28), they have been to Hong Kong for 5 of them (2, 11, 17, 27, & 30), & they have been to Macau for just 2 of them (11 & 27).

[@CanMav]

The fact that they went to mainland China shows the show was fake. They would have needed visas to enter. SO it was all predetermined.

[@GentryDeYoung-l6z]

Jet Lag the game is still better

[@SenorBigDong69]

So they’ve been to China in 14 seasons?

[@lydiaxiao7057]

Jet lag reference?

[@TekniCaliSpeakin]

That's not trivia. Trivia implies that other people will care

[@SJohann]

As someone who literally just used this bridge this week, I'm disappointed with this video. Your dismissal of the bus service just shows that you thought of it as if it were American. In HK, cars aren't massively owned. I've lived here my entire life, and I've only ever ridden in one privately-owned car, and that was in a far more rural part of HK. Most citizens going between HK and Macau aren't going to worry about most of the issue you brought up, since pretty much all of them are taking either the ferry or the bus. Additionally, while your critique of the HK exit not being near the city centre is fair (The airport buses are expensive, usually taking around 50 HKD), it absolutely does not apply to the Macau side. The moment you exit at Macau, you come face-to-face with a legion of free shuttle buses prepared to take you to any of the hotels.

[@andyhui01]

While the first 5 years or so was a failure. The bridge now carries a decent amount of traffic, 10% of all private vehicles in Hong Kong (without Chinese number plates) current hold permits to use that bridge and cross the Zhuhai border since the scheme launched about a year ago.

[@kencube86]

The ferry used to run 4 trips per hour. Now they run 1 trip per hour. Buses fare is about 1/3 of ferry. Most of the passengers choose to use the buses on bridge instead of ferry.

[@RicciChoi1109]

Fact: A rule of thumb is if you are not travelling to or from the New Territories, you'd better go to the ferry terminals (in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sheung Wan) and ride on the old way: high-speed ferries.

[@ABirdNamedBird]

I am a resident in Macau and now there is something called 港車北上 which is Hong Kong drivers can use the bridge to get to Zhuhai and it is a lot easier to get a permit to do it

[@TagachiStudio]

In Chinese, Zh is J. So, Zhuhai is Juhai. Guangzhou is GuangJo. Shenzhen is Shenjen.

Who cares…

[@tiredwitheverything]

Not really? In pinyin, there are zhu,zhou,zhen (主，州，镇， etc.) and Ju,Ji,jie,jia (剧，季，姐，家 etc). There isn’t a “Jo” or “Jen” or “jou” in Chinese. Guangzhou is “zhou,” 广州, not Jo or Jou.

[@tiredwitheverything]

In fact, there are far more characters that start with “zh” those that shirt with a J

[@rahdidewin2970]

​@@tiredwitheverythingI think he want to explain the nearest accurate pronunciation by using J as J in English, not the Pinyin way. But actually if you learn international phonetic alphabet, there is an exact letter to be used. Personally, Zh is more like ch in English pronunciation but less aspiration. See, this is the problem if we do not have unified standard of using letters for pronunciation. English is one of most problematic one because the irregularity of spelling and pronunciation is too much

[@tristangamz2679]

It’s not j it’s a sound that doesn’t exist in English so there’s not really an equivalent

[@dbsalex]

Funny thing is, they built another similar bridge some 30km north of it, a few years after HZMB was built. This time the whole bridge is in mainland China, which further render HZMB useless.

[@hogo21]

The ferry rides are brutal for those with serious motion sickness, riding the bus is so much easier and quicker !

[@niofalpha]

You left the 1 out of the 127 Billion Yuan figure And just didn’t acknowledge busses?

[@SJohann]

He mentioned them once at 4:45, and all he said about them is that they drop you off far from the city centres.

[@skenzyme81]

Hong Kong and Macau both have somewhat separatist identity and a bridge makes it easier for the CCP move *tanks* between them. 🤗

[@harsh_adukia]

Was about to comment this. Glad you took the social score -999 hit instead of me.

[@funnymankenny]

that seems silly, a bridge like that would be very exposed and it's not like china would have trouble putting tanks in both places

[@marklittle8805]

​@@funnymankennyit may be silly, but the Chinese will control the water and air...so tanks and military traffic are likely the reason. Keeping control of either Macau or Hong Kong is the goal. Beijing is not in allowing them to have their independence and they need to submit to the higher authority.

[@TheNeXTGUI]

Macau doesnt really have separatists to the same extenr

[@badcgi4624]

macau is pretty chill with china

[@voidoli212]

Just last golden week, so many Hong Konger travelled through this bridge caused traffic jam. it is ultimately worked out.

[@ramentaco9179]

“won” is the currency of South Korea, not China lol

[@dongiovanni4331]

He's mispronouncing "yuan"

[@maxlaihc]

“Traffic is always pretty light” when a public holiday arrives in Hong Kong and it’s 11:30pm when everyone is trying to rush home with the traffic so bad it’s overflowing onto the highway entrance before the mainland checkpoint and even the map application a lot of people use in the mainland is giving motivational speeches (the last one is no joke):

[@789know]

American doesn't understand public transport

[@hackedbyBLAGH]

That's not how you use begs the question. You mean raises the question.

[@arnbrandy]

I'm not saying they should have built the bridge, but a US$ 1.5 bi extra cost and two years on top of seven is not really a bad performance at all. A project of this magnitude would cause a lot of more problems elsewhere.

[@wang78739]

Not a well researched video (e.g. VoA isn’t exactly a neutral source on the matter)… As an HKer whose used the bridge before, most just take the shuttle bus across which has a headway of 5 minutes during peak times (usually there are multiple busses on standby so you don’t even have to wait for one) which run 24/7/365. Besides, very few people in HK own cars anyways when public transport is so good and parking spaces so pricey. Also there are also e channels for immigration so no need to deal with passports and stand in long lines. IDK, this video feels like criticizing the building a new airport and how much work it takes to get a pilot license, forgetting that most people aren’t flying their own private planes when going places. Also cargo is a lot easier to transport via road than boat

[@ipcheng8022]

Bus exists, sam. I dare you to go to these three cities in your next Jet Lag season.

[@V1shnuRamachandran]

Thanks for whoever took time to add fillers in Sponsor Block❤

[@cwong548]

Its not useless, just barely useful lol

[@QiChu223]

The bridge will stand long enough to see the unification of mainland and Hong Kong, right?

[@Igor_054]

If the bridge has 4200 vehicles a day it is far from useless. Particularly because it is such a hassle for private drivers that I assume 99% of those vehicles are buses or cargo, which could mean a more effective use of the bridge than just have a bunch of cars jamming it all the time.

[@cheng-alvin]

Well, it was a feat of engineering but, I think the hong kong macau and zhuhai bridge serves more as a symbolic element to affirm that Hong Kong and macau are parts of china by physically connecting

[@Austine1452]

what total BS, like the more than a dozen Bridges and cast land border btw Hong Kong and Shenzhen is not enough

[@cosmogally1964]

This video doesnt mention that Mainland China also recently made a new bridge just north between Shenzhen and Zhongshan, which makes the HK-Zhuhai-Macau bridge even worthless

[@RusNad]

Worthless or are they building spare capacity for a fraction of the price compared to building it when they will probably need it in a couple of eecades? I'm not a fan of the Chinese government but always seems a little strange that the West criticises them for having too many vacant apartments and too much infrastructure like that isn't a luxury they would kill to have

[@ansonleeXD]

The bridge itself may be hard to access for the regular person who own a car (the rich folks, most people wouldn’t drive let alone afford a car here in HK, let alone Macau), but we have a well implemented and convenient bus service on the bridge. It’s not that expensive and a lot of people used it. It’s not useless when you can’t get your precious little car through that bridge. We still have buses and trucks, you know

[@GrandDukeOfAlexandros]

HONG KONG MENTIONED 🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰

[@ThatShadowknight]

0:49 I know at least one thing that's going in the yearly mistake video.

[@israellai]

00:49 well I'm proud that we did that just for your content creation needs. ❤

[@thomads3890]

Money matters not when the central gouvernment wishes to incorporate new regions into itself more lastingly. Germany rebuilt eastern German City Centres for absurd amounts of money - not for any practical benefit, but because it was felt that it would help east and west germany grow back together and feel more connected. Thats it. Thats why. One day, Macau and Hongkong will cease being their own little thing, and this bridge will just be a reasonable addition to link both cities, and people will look back upon it as a unification move of benevolent intent, as eastgermans look upon Semper Opera in Dresden.

[@gunhunter]

Living in Macau. I use this bridge all the time getting to HK. I also see a tonne of HK car owners driving to Macau border (park n ride) as well as driving directly into Zhuhai (and the greater guangdong area). IIRC Macau drivers will also soon be able to drive to HK border for park n ride/fly as the HK border is quite close to the airport.

[@FormulaAnything]

I think people would rather waste time with anything but bureaucracy.

[@natchu96]

I would rather pay a few dollars extra than to waste time on that paperwork nightmare just to make a trip I am unlikely to make often.

[@dnldjackson22]

I think this video almost misses the bigger picture here. You do mention that the bridge acts as a way for mainland China to further encroach onto the Hong Kong and Macau SARs, as a way to create more unity between the Greater Bay Area. Even if the route is logistically difficult now because of the complexities of insurance and borders, the reality is that these former colonial cities will be further integrated into China as time passes per the agreements to their handover, even with their right to additional freedoms. Sure, it may be a logistical nightmare to cross the bridge now but the idea is to increase multimodal mobility in the region in the long run. Who knows, by the time the 50-years periods are up for Hong Kong and Macau in 2047 and 2049, we may see the removal of border crossings and a centralization of automobile insurance, or even before this time is up. That would certainly make the bridge more useful, the politics of such changes aside.

[@christopherd.winnan8701]

Where were you when my Chinese teacher insisted on including CCTV documentaries about the Zhuhai Bridge in class?

[@vidkabekcuebals25591]

Hong Kong actually had to make amendments to the traffic code in order to accommodate the right-side driving of HZMB. Also, most people do travel in buses and they are almost always full, so if you put each passenger into a car, the bridge would be overloaded. And even with the low traffic, there's always heavy queues at Chinese customs area during holiday breaks, though that's definitely a design problem. There used to be only shuttle buses that bus between ports, but now there are many buses that will take you from the Zhuhai port all the way to many points of interest in HK/Kowloon, so hopefully it will eat some ridership from the ferry, which only goes to Central.

[@szj3255]

you forgot about the trouble of needing to drive in reverse as demonstrated by the truck in 2:56

[@talonsl]

If I am not mistaken, the Eiffel tower is made of iron, not steel.

[@SydawgNo]

It was surprisingly easy to use this bridge by bus to and from Macau last spring. The bridge busses connect easily to city busses in HK that then take you into the city. Same ones that service the airport. With HKID, immigration takes about 36 seconds.

[@IridiumRedTheOrigina]

When you see the statistics about how much China is building (such as the massive amount of concrete they use every year), just remember that many of those projects are about as useful as this one. Just because they are busy doing things, doesn't mean they are necessarily PRODUCTIVE things...

[@sbeve7445]

The fact that this bridge still struggle to hit its traffic projection tells you everything. Biggest white elephant of the century. As a HongKonger this is really disappointing.

[@Takanekoandele]

I'm from Hong Kong, and to put it simply. For the length and usage of the bridge, it is most likely just for corruption. Trucks and delivery vehicles rarely go through there as well as normal citizens .

[@MrNicoJac]

Would tanks be able to drive across it? That's the (potential) reason I see that would justify such a cost for something. And not needing it but just having it as a threat/reminder/backup might be enough, too. (to intimidate local politicians from not pushing their luck too much, etc) I'm interested to read what you think of my hypothesis :)

[@hgos7211]

​@@MrNicoJac You do see there's a direct land border at the north in Shenzhen right🤦🏻

[@hgos7211]

Lmao pure BS as a fellow hongkonger, a ton of delivery trucks use the bridge everyday and plenty use the bus service to get across the river, it's cheaper than the ferry.

[@wpgc2]

@@hgos7211 The data speaks for itself for the nay sayers. Hard to argue >2 million passengers per month a useless bridge.

[@Takanekoandele]

@@MrNicoJac yes this could be a possible intention, but there is a border up north where tanks could also travel down. This bridge is more like a 'statement piece' telling the populous that as they say "Hong Kong and Macau will always be under our control and we have very healthy relationships with one another." And also that's the reason you see ' the big bay area' being advertised and constantly being shoved to the general public

[@kathrynstemler6331]

1:24 The Chrysler building is the tallest brick-clad steel-framed building with Nirostra steel, marble, and aluminum decoration. Not much concrete. Is it enough concrete to make 22 Chrysler shaped buildings out of concrete? Otherwise I’m a bit worried about the bridge.

[@zimon129]

4:59 the figure is 2.3 million in 2023 despite hong kong is not reopen by covid untill march. And the daily vechile/day travelled this year so far is 16000/day because the policy you mentioned in 4:35 " Hong Kong Cars Going North" has actually lifted the limit at 2023 july. And they are accepting 600 applicants per day starting in 2024 June. If spreading false information isn't this channel only goal. I suggest you do more research before publishing any video. Relying solely on one article published by voice of America is crazy.

[@bagelgeuse5736]

0:47 Sam says 127 billion Yuan while the image clearly shows 27 billion-Yuan. Absolutely video ruining mistake right there.

[@baa0325]

Sometime in the near future, perhaps by 2030, HK and Macau will “request” admission to the PRC, abrogating the handover agreement (which has already happened, just not formally). Then drivers will have better use for this bridge.

[@tryxdc]

0:46 hello yearly mistakes video!

[@monkeetime]

The current license and insurance requirements are a bit burdensome (as is the traffic direction switch), but they will disappear, once the Greater Bay becomes a reality, and at that point, this link will very much come in handy. China simply exercised some good long-term vision on this one. Nothing wrong with preparing extra infrastructure for future growth.

[@lauscho]

Greater Bay Area huh? Can't wait to hear from the Greater Bay Area Thrash Metal scene!

[@MichaelSnyder1776]

I was just in Hong Kong! During a hike I did on Lantau Island I had a great view of the bridge

[@zurielsss]

Who knew a massively overpriced bridge with expensive maintenance costs is a drain on finances? Most of us in HK don’t go to macau much , why must we foot the bill for the gamblers? Let them pay for the useless bridge with taxation on gambling instead of tax dollars

[@JG_noir]

I mean the bridge is for when HK and Macau are not SAR but that doesn’t make it make sense

[@OceanChannelProductions]

finally someone said it. im from hong kong and i have never see more than 3 cars on the bridge

[@tinkersdinkers]

americans when they forget about busses 💀

[@fernbedek6302]

This video shows Americans forget about buses... they're not an afterthought for a bridge to be dismissed. They're how you make bridges actually efficient.

[@jackblack704]

You don't need this many lanes then. Did you take the bridge? Ferry is better in every way

[@fernbedek6302]

@ I live in Canada, so no, but the comments seem pretty full of locals talking about how much better the buses are that the ferries. And, well, for a bridge this big that saves that much time, you want some redundant lanes in case of accidents.

[@akamikedavid]

As someone who has family in Hong Kong, I've always been curious about this bridge and was tempted to try it next time I visit, at least to go to Macau. I'd definitely take a bus but knowing its 20 minutes from the Casino Lisbao in Macau makes it...kinda not worth it... Also, something for the blooper/mistake video! At 0:47, your narration says the bridge costs "127 Billion Yuan" but the video graphics only show "27 Billion." Time to fire the editors, just kidding. Please don't ban me.

[@aaronwilson4258]

0:48 US$18.8 billion is 137.21 billion Yuan, not 27 billion.

[@Iskelderon]

It's crazy that they can't get a grip on that when there's plenty of examples of reciprocation between government structures to enable cross-border traffic. Hell, the European Union has agreements to facilitate that every day and that's actual different countries.

[@mattbowdenuh]

It served a very good purpose. All that steel and concrete had to go to something with the slowdown in housing construction. God forbid they cut back on production and lay people off because that makes GDP go down. Much better to build a bridge that nobody can practically use.

[@uumuu]

Yes it's useless for private cars but there is a constant stream of buses crossing the bridge. It's faster, cheaper and more convenient to take the bus than the ferry, I've taken both. Also, most people in HK use public transit instead of personal cars.