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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 25):
Question:
Along the major roads in busy areas, such as Queen's Road Central, Connaught Road Central and Pedder Street, there are always lorries and light goods vehicles parked in the loading/unloading areas and no-parking places, occupying those places or loading and unloading goods on the traffic lanes, and together with the "long queues" of taxis waiting for passengers, causing traffic blockages. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of penalty tickets issued, in each of the past three years, by the Police in respect of illegal parking of commercial vehicles in loading/unloading areas and no-parking places;
(b) whether it had, in the past three years, stepped up enforcement actions (e.g. deploying more law enforcement officials to patrol illegal parking black spots) against illegal parking;
(c) focusing on the excessively long queues of taxis waiting for passengers, whether the Government will deploy more law enforcement officials to divert traffic flows, so as to reduce the occurrence of traffic blockages; and
(d) whether it will consider relocating the taxi stands on busy roads to improve traffic conditions?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
(a) & (b) The numbers of notices of fixed penalty (FPNs) issued by the Police against commercial vehicles including goods vehicles, taxis and public light buses for loading or unloading at prohibited or restricted zones, and illegal parking in the past three years are as follows:
2006 2007 2008 2009
(Jan to Oct)
Goods vehicles 208,492 215,129 207,192 170,245
Taxis 19,775 21,277 21,643 22,494
Public light 4,022 3,591 3,105 2,307
buses
To ensure smooth traffic flow, the Police will continue their stringent enforcement actions on busy roads and at illegal parking black spots. Such actions include strengthening manpower for patrol duties during peak hours at these locations and instituting prosecutions with a view to combating illegal parking or loading/unloading at prohibited or restricted zones.
(c) & (d) We endeavour to strike an appropriate balance between maintaining smooth traffic flow and catering for the need of vehicles to load/unload passengers and goods. To ensure smooth traffic flow, the Transport Department (TD) has designated restricted zones at major roads in Central including Pedder Street, Queen's Road Central and Connaught Road Central to prohibit loading/unloading of passengers or goods. In parallel, the TD has designated appropriate locations as taxi stands or loading/unloading areas to cater for the needs of the public and daily operation of commercial buildings. At present, there are two taxi stands at the above roads in Central (one is located at Pedder Street near Queen's Road Central, and the other is a night-time cross-harbour taxi stand at Queen's Road Central near Li Yuen Street West). Between these two taxi stands, the one at Pedder Street is busier. In order to alleviate impact on traffic, the TD has chosen the wider section of Pedder Street for the designation of taxi stand. In addition, in order to prohibit taxis from stopping there for prolonged periods thereby affecting the traffic flow, the TD has adopted special traffic management measures. Taxis are only permitted to pick up or set down passengers from 7am to 10pm at the road section concerned, and waiting for passengers is not allowed during the period. When necessary, the Police will deploy additional manpower during the peak hours to divert traffic flow in the vicinity. The TD will also continue to appeal to the taxi trade to exercise self-discipline and observe relevant traffic arrangements so as to maintain smooth vehicular flow. The TD will closely monitor the situation, and make appropriate changes to the traffic arrangements for the taxi stands as necessary.
Ends/Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:50
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