(Yicai) July 16 -- SF Express, China's largest express delivery company, has penned an agreement with Chengdu to deploy its "Express + Bus" package distribution system in the southwestern Chinese city.

SF will utilize public buses, personnel, and bus stops in main urban areas in Chengdu to enhance local package deliveries' costs and efficiency, the Shenzhen-based firm announced on July 14.

Xi'an, Wuhan, Lanzhou, Nanjing, and Zhengzhou previously agreed to join SF's "Express + Bus" model that can shorten package delivery time to less than two and a half hours from around one day.

Nanjing Bus Group partnered with SF to launch a special "city express line" on May 1. In addition to regular passenger transport, the firm uses Bus Route 503 to deliver packages, including agricultural goods and fresh food, charging a service fee per parcel.

While Route 503 stops at dozens of passenger stations, it only stops at three designated spots for unloading packages, a representative from Nanjing Bus told Yicai. The company plans to expand the SF collaboration by using bus depots and stations as sorting offices, with a framework agreement being drafted, the person added.

Traditional express delivery systems often face high costs, low efficiency, traffic congestion, and other challenges in last-mile delivery. However, urban bus routes have wide coverage and stable schedules, so using buses to deliver packages can reduce costs and improve efficiency while providing new business growth opportunities for bus operators.

The number of public bus passengers in China has declined since the Covid-19 pandemic due to the surge in new transport means and other relevant factors, tumbling to 38.7 billion last year from 69.2 billion in 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Transport. In addition, the figure fell 4.8 percent in the five months ended May 31 from a year earlier.

Editor: Martin Kadiev