Non-Chinese readers foresee difficulties getting Golden Bus tickets

Non-Chinese readers seeking to take the shuttle bus running on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) may find it difficult to purchase a ticket when needed, as the only remaining ticketing method is solely in Chinese.
The Times reported yesterday that the only remaining online booking channel for the shuttle bus (more commonly known as the Golden Bus) is through WeChat, a Chinese social media and instant messaging app.
The single-language platform is a concern for many who cannot read Chinese, although some said that it was “natural” for a Chinese app to only have a Chinese language option.
A reader surnamed Lobo saw the matter from a commercial angle. “The market is so small in Macau that it might not be commercially viable to have it in any other language,” he said.
Another reader, surnamed Creeden, told the Times that some of her friends faced similar difficulties in purchasing tickets. “We don’t know how to search for the HKZMB bus merchant as there doesn’t seem to be a search option and a lot of it is in Chinese,” Creeden said.
Another of Creeden’s friends urgently needed to secure a ticket, but could not find them as a payment merchant on WeChat.
Foreigners are currently barred from entering mainland China and the two Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong. Nonetheless, Lobo is concerned that the online booking arrangement will persist after the pandemic, and non-Chinese reading passengers will be unable to purchase their bus tickets due to the language barrier.
Payments for tickets are to be made through the app’s payment gateway, WeChat Pay, which has been incorporated into the social media app. Similar to other payment platforms such as PayPal, a registration process is required.
The most direct method is to connect WeChat Pay to a mainland bank account, or an account in Macau with the Bank of China or the Banco Nacional Ultramarino. The account must have a single account holder. “If it’s co-owned with your spouse, you’re excluded,” Lobo pointed out.
Signing up with a credit or debit card is also an option. Some online tourism platforms, including some based on the mainland, have indicated that connecting WeChat Pay with credit or debit cards issued outside mainland China is possible. Nonetheless, some have not found this possible.
“I cannot [sign up with] a Macau credit card,” one reader said. “Only Hong Kong or mainland bank accounts are accepted.”
The main problem is that “many of the local residents or blue card holders don’t have access to WeChat pay,” Lobo explained.
On Monday, the operator’s customer service hotline, which is only available in Mandarin and Cantonese, told the Times that a passenger without WeChat Pay can ask a friend to pay on their behalf. This recommendation remains unsatisfactory to many.
The Times could not get in touch with the bus operator or WeChat for further clarification by press time.