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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (May 13):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of Closed Road Permits issued to cross-boundary vehicles by the authorities in the past three years, together with a breakdown by the crossing which the vehicles were permitted to use;
(b) of the respective volume/capacity ratios of various crossings during peak hours, off-peak hours and public holidays in the past three years;
(c) whether it has studied if cross-boundary vehicles are currently too concentrated on using particular crossings to cross the boundary, and if such concentration has caused frequent traffic congestions on the roads in the vicinity of such crossings; if it has, of the outcome; and whether the authorities have adopted new measures to encourage cross-boundary vehicles to switch to use crossings where traffic is smoother for crossing the boundary; and
(d) as the authorities are considering the introduction of an ad hoc quota system for cross-boundary private cars, which will be launched at the Shenzhen Bay Port first, of the implementation timetable and whether they will implement the system within this year?
Reply:
President,
(1) The number of Closed Road Permits issued to cross-boundary vehicles by the Transport Department in the past three years is listed in Annex I.
(2) The average daily traffic flow, daily handling capacities and highest daily traffic volume at different crossings recorded in the past three years are set out in Annex II.
We have not kept separate statistics on the respective volume/capacity ratios of various crossings during peak hours, off-peak hours and public holidays.
(3) At present, the Lok Ma Chau (LMC) crossing accounts for over half of the cross-boundary vehicular traffic. The number of vehicles using Shenzhen Bay Port (SBP) has been increasing since its commissioning as from July 1, 2007. The volume of cross-boundary traffic at other land boundary crossings (i.e. LMC, Man Kam To (MKT) and Sha Tau Kok (STK)) as a ratio to the overall cross-boundary traffic has been decreasing, reflecting the diversion effect of SBP. The traffic on the roads in the vicinity of the various crossings has been generally smooth. We will continue to monitor the utilisation of various crossings. In order to encourage the utilisation of SBP, together with the Guangdong authorities, we have implemented a number of measures, including-
(a) allowing all goods vehicles of cross-boundary freight companies to freely use SBP;
(b) allowing private car quota-holders of LMC, MKT and STK crossings to continue to choose SBP for commuting purpose until end September 2009; and
(c) allowing private car quota-holders for SBP to use LMC during the hours when SBP is not in operation (i.e. from midnight to 6.30am) with effect from May 26, 2008, in order to facilitate them to cross the boundary during the small hours.
(4) As regards the introduction of an ad hoc quota system for cross-boundary private cars, the expert group set up by the Hong Kong and Guangdong authorities has already started to sort out implementation details and relevant technical issues with a view to rolling out a trial scheme at SBP as soon as possible. Our tentative target is to announce the arrangements for the first phase (i.e. issuing one-off ad hoc quotas to Hong Kong private cars) within this year, while the actual implementation date will be subject to the progress of discussions with the Guangdong side.
Ends/Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:42
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