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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (February 25):
Question:
Regarding enhancement of efficiency in utilisation of roads, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that in her reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on November 21, 2007, the Secretary for Transport and Housing advised that the two key services (i.e. the Intelligent Road Network and the Public Transport Information Service), to be provided by the Transport Information System under development by the Transport Department (TD), were expected to be available to the public in phases starting from the latter half of last year, why such services have not yet been launched, and when the services are expected to be launched;
(b) given that TD had advised on January 18, 2007 that the works to install six sets of journey time indicators in advance of the critical traffic divergent points at the approach roads on Kowloon to the road-harbour crossings were expected to be completed in the middle of this year, of the current progress of the works; whether it will make the indicators available for use in phases based on the progress of the works;
(c) given that the Transport and Housing Bureau had advised in April last year that it would conduct a comprehensive traffic study for West Kowloon (including making recommendations on the road network for the district), and the first phase of the study would be completed in December last year, why the results of the study have not yet been announced, and when they are expected to be announced; and
(d) whether it had conducted studies or had drawn up plans in relation to the development of an intelligent transport system last year; if so, of the details?
Reply:
President,
My replies to the four parts of the question are as follows:
(a) Installation of the Transport Information System (TIS) was completed last year. The Transport Department (TD) is now fine-tuning TIS, linking TIS with related systems of other departments for data exchange, as well as conducting internal testing and data update. TIS provides two services, namely the Public Transport Information Service (PTIS) and the Intelligent Road Network (IRN). They are expected to be available to the public and the industry in phases starting from the second and third quarter of 2009 respectively.
Value-added service providers in the private sector, including telecommunication companies, fleet and freight operators, as well as logistic and IT organisations, can make use of the IRN information to develop applications of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), such as car navigation, fleet management systems and personalised information services for the public. Public transport passengers can make use of the PTIS to search for their optimum routes based on distance, fare and number of interchanges, while motorists can, through the Internet, search for their optimum driving routes on the digitised map based on options such as distance, time and toll.
(b) The project of extending the Journey Time Indication System (JTIS) to Kowloon commenced in October 2008 for completion and operation in early 2010. As the time taken for pre-qualification of tenderers was longer than expected, the extension works cannot be completed in 2009 as scheduled.
JTIS collects vehicle speed data on journeys passing through the three road harbour crossings for analysis by the central computer. The journey time indicators will display the estimated time for passing through individual crossings. Since JTIS as a whole can function effectively only after passing through all the tests, the completed indicators cannot be put into service early to allow operation of JTIS in phases.
(c) The Comprehensive Transport Study for West Kowloon, including on the road works and pedestrian networks that will be constructed to cope with the future developments in the area, and the questions of how these facilities will work out in a co-ordinated manner, is expected to complete in mid 2009. Before implementing the related works projects and associated traffic management measures, the Government will consult the public and the Yau Tsim Mong District Council (YTMDC). TD, in collaboration with the Highways Department and the MTR Corporation Ltd., has scheduled to consult YTMDC on February 26, 2009 on part of the new transport infrastructure.
(d) TD commissioned the Feasibility Study on Deploying Advanced Technologies in Incident Management in 2007 for completion in mid 2009. In the light of the Study's findings, TD will decide on ways to further use advanced technologies to enhance the capacity of incident management. TD will also review the development strategy of ITS in due course to maximise traffic flow, enhance safety and performance of local road networks, as well as facilitate dissemination of traffic and transport information.
In the meantime, TD is planning the following works projects for ITS development:
- Installation of an additional journey time indicator in the Eastern District;
- Study on the installation of speed map panels at five locations in the New Territories to show road traffic condition ahead with graphic images; and
- Gradual extension of the existing Internet Traffic Speed Map, which covers major roads on the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories South, to all strategic roads across the territory.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:01
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