JUST 8,000 vehicles and 110,000 passengers used the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor in the first seven days since it opened July 1.

The number is well below the capacity and target of the new Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint of 58,600 vehicles and 60,000 passengers a day.

On the opening day, almost 30,000 passengers passed through the checkpoint, located on the north of the Western Corridor.

“The daily flow of an average of 1,000 vehicles and 10,000 passengers will increase as more residents get to know about the Western Corridor and transport companies get approval for their trucks to use the new checkpoint,” said Yin Xiao, an official at the Shenzhen administration of exit and entry.

Only a small number of trucks have used the Western Corridor in the past week, with most vehicles crossing the border being private cars with both Shenzhen and Hong Kong license plates, checkpoint officials said.

It is still too early to say how many vehicles and passengers have switched from using other checkpoints such as Luohu and Huanggang, officials said.

“The new checkpoint has only been in use for a week, which is not sufficient to evaluate its impact,” said Zhang, an official at the Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint.

According to the Shenzhen checkpoint administration office, 83.62 million passengers used Shenzhen-Hong Kong checkpoints in the first half of the year, 3.1 percent more than the same period last year.