According to the Xiamen Ferry Boat Company, 10 ticket vending machines are expected to be put into service at Xiamen International Cruise Terminal in Dongdu in late November.
Passengers can use their ID cards to purchase the Xiamen-Gulangyu ferry tickets by themselves. However, the machines only receive payment via bank cards or e-tong cards, the cards used to pay fares on public transport in Xiamen.
Unlike the normal ferry tickets, the “tickets” the passengers get from the vending machines are actually information input into the ID cards of the buyers. Passengers can get aboard the ferry boats by swiping their ID cards after their transactions at the vending machines.
To help alleviate the ticket-purchasing passenger flow at the Xiamen International Cruise Terminal, the number of ticket selling windows at the port will be doubled from 8 to 16.
Meanwhile, an additional 800 seats will be added to the current 437 seats in the waiting room at the International Cruise Terminal, and a maternal ward, which can hold up to 7 infants at a time, will be set up for the special needs of women and their infants.
The Xiamen Ferry Boat Company suggests passengers who purchase tickets online get to the terminal 30 minutes ahead of departure as the port will stop checking tickets 10 minutes before the ferry boat leaves the port.
The last ferry boat that is available at the terminal is at 5:30pm (winter) and 6:30pm (summer) daily. Tourists who want to take Xiamen-Gulangyu ferry boats after that will have to go to No.2 Hall at Lundu Ferry Terminal which will launch its night ferry service from 5:50pm (winter) and 6:50pm (summer).
SOURCE: WOX Team
