Self-service is speeding travelers at Gongbei border

An additional 50 self-service border-crossing lanes were opened 15 days ahead of schedule at Gongbei Checkpoint on June 30. They have cut border clearance time to within 30 minutes as required by the State Immigration Administration.

Twenty are installed in Exit Building 1, while Exit 2, Entry 1, and Entry 2 buildings are each equipped with 10. 

There are now 194 self-service inspection channels at Gongbei, four times that of staffed counters. The added lanes, which handle a passenger every eight seconds -- half the time otherwise required -- are seeing the proportion of travelers using the service rise from 70 percent to 8 out of 10.

Self-service border-crossing lanes [Photo by Shen Yang / Zhuhai Daily]