[Editor’s Note]
Busy with bustling crowds and vehicles coming and going from all directions, the lively automobile passenger stations were once the collective memory of several generations. With the changes of the times and shifts in transportation modes, more and more passenger stations are now at a “crossroads,” facing the question of whether to cease operations and close or to upgrade and transform. What is the path forward for the transformation of passenger stations?
The Paper launches a series of reports titled “Passenger Stations at the Crossroads,” conducting on-site investigations and visits to representative passenger stations across the country, engaging in deep dialogues with industry experts, passenger transport practitioners, and administrative departments to jointly explore this question of transformation.
Wujin Automobile Passenger Station, located in Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, has borne the heavy responsibility of facilitating transportation for the people of Wujin, Changzhou, since its establishment in 2007. It was once a transportation window and urban landmark of Changzhou, serving as the core connection point between Wujin’s external and internal transportation, witnessing the prosperity of crowds.
Comparison of Wujin Passenger Station’s past and present. The top image is from the Changzhou Road Transport Group’s WeChat official account, and the bottom image is by Yang Zhe, a reporter from The Paper.
Official data shows that Wujin Automobile Passenger Station was originally a first-level automobile passenger station, covering an area of over 120 mu (approx. 8 hectares) with a station building of over 70,000 square meters. However, from a peak daily passenger volume of over 13,000 to a current daily average of less than 200, the steep decline in passenger flow at Wujin Automobile Passenger Station reflects the common difficulties faced by the road passenger transport industry.
Reporters learned that, along with the decrease in passenger transport scale, the operational area of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station has been repeatedly adjusted in recent years, highlighting the surplus and idle status of a large number of station resources. The pressure of the “burden” of station assets has become increasingly evident. Under this situation, in 2022, Changzhou Road Transport Group initiated asset development and block construction for Wujin Automobile Passenger Station, supporting the pilot comprehensive development of “cultural, transportation, tourism + ecological commerce” for Wujin Automobile Passenger Station while retaining its original functions.
On May 9th of this year, through the innovative model of renovating the old passenger station and activating the utilization of existing buildings, integrating transportation culture and automotive elements with cultural tourism, and exploring the fusion of cultural, transportation, tourism with cultural, commercial, and tourism, Wujin Automobile Passenger Station reemerged to the citizens of Changzhou with a new image as the “T-PARK Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street.” This project is also a key cultural and tourism project under Changzhou’s “532” development strategy, covering an area of about 120 mu with a total investment of 150 million yuan for the first phase.
According to the official website of Changzhou Transportation Bureau, on August 15th of this year, a work promotion meeting for the pilot transformation and development of automobile passenger stations in Jiangsu Province was held in Changzhou. Relevant leaders from the transportation departments and passenger transport enterprises of Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Nantong, and Suqian attended the meeting. The leader of Changzhou Road Transport Group introduced the transformation and development of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station.
Of course, transformation is not a “cure-all.” Industry experts point out that the road passenger transport industry has yet to explore a universally applicable transformation experience that can be replicated everywhere. Different stations also need to comprehensively consider their own location advantages, operational characteristics, local resources, and other factors, seeking opportunities and creating chances to achieve industry transfer.
Recently, reporters from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) went to Changzhou to explore the transformation and exploration work of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station.
Significant Reduction in Passenger Station Size
Compared to the large-scale station building before the transformation, the current Wujin Passenger Station has been adjusted to the northeast corner of the entire plot, with a significant reduction in its footprint. At around 3 p.m. on October 24th, reporters found only 2 waiting passengers in the station’s waiting hall and only 1 staff member at the ticket window.
Staff members stated that most of the lines have been adjusted to Changzhou Automobile Passenger Station (main station), while Wujin Automobile Passenger Station retains some routes to northern Jiangsu and to the airports of Changzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai Pudong.
Scope and schematic diagram of Wujin Passenger Station plot (the blue box indicates the plot boundary, and the red box indicates the current passenger station building area). Image by Yang Zhe, a reporter from The Paper.
After reducing the area of the passenger station, the remaining land of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station was transformed into the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street.
Reporters saw on-site that the original street-facing station buildings of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station are currently mainly sales outlets for new energy vehicle companies and chained restaurants, while the long-idle spaces such as the internal station buildings and parking lots have been transformed into a cultural and art street.
The street is designed in the style of an open urban park, featuring bridge and stream-like walkways and various rooftop viewing and leisure terraces. Besides attracting merchants to set up shops in the original station buildings, the street has also tapped into the commercial potential of the open space through movable structures such as containers. More than 60 containers and automobile bus models of various colors and shapes have become new spaces for dining and cuisine.
The T-PARK Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street at night in summer. Image from the street’s official WeChat public account.
The street’s investment promotion materials introduce that the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street is divided into “east, central, and west” zones based on the original site and building layout of Wujin Automobile Passenger Station, covering various aspects such as transportation history, automotive elements, cultural and creative retail, dining and cuisine, etc. With “culture,” “leisure,” and “forest-like” as its core elements, it is positioned as a trendy gathering place for the “Z generation” youth, aiming to create a distinctive micro-vacation destination and a new cultural and tourism landmark in the Yangtze River Delta through multifunctional social formats such as creative dining, cultural and creative markets, casual drinking spaces, day cafes and night bars, trendy sports, art research and study, banquet centers, trendy bookstores, family-friendly entertainment, and urban campsites, infinitely broadening and extending the living boundaries of young people and creating an oasis of relaxation and comfort in the bustling area of Wujin.
Cultural Street Has Been Open for Half a Year
On October 24th, through observation from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., reporters from The Paper found that the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street had relatively low customer flow. After nightfall, few citizens came, and none of the dining stalls in the container dining market, which is a unique feature of the street, were open for business.
Scenes from the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street at 4 p.m. and around 6:30 p.m. on October 24th. Images by Yang Zhe, a reporter from The Paper.
A security guard at the street told reporters that the dining shops in the market have moved out, and the only dining options are a few shops along the street.
“When it just opened, it was quite lively here. They held lawn concerts and DIY activities for families, attracting many people,” a Changzhou citizen who lives near the street told The Paper. During summer nights, his family would often come here for a walk. However, he soon found that many shops in the street were vacant, and later, even the small stalls in the dining market closed one after another.
Wujin Automobile Passenger Station is adjacent to Changzhou University Town. On the promotional posters of the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street, it is also emphasized that it aims to create a “24-hour trendy gathering place for the university town.” However, reporters did not observe any customers who appeared to be college students during their observation.
A merchant who previously rented a shop in the street told The Paper that there are already relatively mature commercial formats closer to the several universities nearby. Although this is a newly developed street, it only has innovations in physical space and lacks differentiated and competitive shopping and entertainment experiences, making it difficult to attract college students to frequently consume here. Due to business not meeting expectations, she recently closed her shop and withdrew from the street.
How to Create New Formats for Passenger Stations
According to the local government website of Changzhou and media reports, after the opening of the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street, it has successively welcomed visits from leaders and industry professionals at various levels. Why, after half a year of operation, has this transformation exploration of a traditional passenger station resulted in a situation where it is “applauded but not popular”?
In written materials provided to The Paper, Changzhou Road Transport Group stated that the Blue Dolphin Cultural and Art Street project is an attempt by Changyun Group to develop the integration of culture, commerce, and tourism. As culture, commerce, and tourism are entirely new formats for traditional passenger transport companies, since its opening, the street’s investment promotion, operation management, and other work have been continuously explored, and the commercial formats have been continuously updated and iterated. There is currently no plan to replicate the project in other passenger stations in Changzhou. After