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Following is a question by the Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (May 22):
Question:
Statistics from the Transport Department show that the number of registered private cars rose from 421 062 in 2008 to 494 646 in 2012, representing an increase of 73 584 cars in four years' time which constituted 90% of the increase in the total number of registrations over the same period. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the design capacity of the roads/sections listed in Annex 1; the following in respect of these roads/sections on weekdays in the past three years: (i) the average hourly throughput during morning rush hours (i.e. from 7.30am to 9.30am), (ii) the average hourly throughput during evening rush hours (i.e. from 6pm to 8pm), (iii) the volume/capacity ratio during morning rush hours, and (iv) the volume/capacity ratio during evening rush hours; whether measures had been put in place in the past three years to mitigate the problem of congestion on such roads/sections, and whether it had assessed the effectiveness of such measures (set out in Annex 1);
(b) of the respective numbers of private cars registered under the names of Hong Kong permanent residents, non-Hong Kong permanent residents and companies among the newly registered private cars in each of the past five years; and
(c) whether it has studied the implementation of any measures (e.g. implementing electronic road pricing on busy road sections, limiting the validity periods of vehicle licences, and introducing additional measures to make good use of the existing public transport network) in order to address the problems arising from the continuous rise in the number of private cars; if it has, of the details of each measure (including whether a consultancy study has been conducted, the findings of the study, the anticipated year of implementation of the specific measures and the expenditure involved, etc.)?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of Hon Wu Chi-wai's question is as follows:
(a) The maximum capacity of and traffic flow during rush hours on the roads and tunnels concerned are shown in Annex 2. It has to be pointed out that their volume/capacity ratios cannot always accurately reflect the real traffic situation. At times of heavy traffic, the traffic flow on these roads and tunnels may be affected by signalised junctions or congestion at downstream roads, such that the capacity may not be fully utilised and the vehicular flow could not be raised to an efficient level. As for some road sections where queues will appear due to busy traffic, the tabulated figures have not taken the queues so formed into account.
Information on traffic flow for 2012 is being finalised and the data are expected to be available in mid-2013.
Regarding improvement measures, apart from carrying out minor road improvement works to ease traffic congestion at individual road sections, we have been tackling the congestion problem using various approaches as detailed in the ensuing paragraphs.
We encourage members of the public to travel by public transport means. Currently, 90% of passenger journeys taken make use of public transport services. In terms of transport modes, railway is the backbone of our public transport system, carrying over 4.5 million passengers per day. This accounts for about 40% of all public transport passenger trips.
The development of rail transport can speed up passenger flow, alleviate road traffic congestion and reduce vehicle-induced air pollution. Therefore, our long-term planning for public transport will revolve around a railway-based network complemented by bus services. We are pressing ahead the construction of five new railways (i.e. West Island Line, South Island Line (East), Kwun Tong Line Extension, Shatin to Central Link and Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link) for scheduled completion between 2014 and 2020. By then, our railway network will serve areas inhabited by more than 70% of the local population.
On bus services, the Transport Department (TD) and franchised bus companies are vigorously pursuing bus route rationalisation. In addition to the on-going annual Route Development Programme for each district, the TD and franchised bus companies are also rationalising bus routes through an "area approach". Bus routes are re-organised on the basis of the district/area concerned instead of individual routes, with a view to achieving effective use of resources. Under the area approach, a rationalisation proposal may involve frequency reduction, re-routeing, cancellation or amalgamation of overlapping and under-utilised routes. There may also be new bus-bus interchange (BBI) schemes or improvement of existing ones so that there are more route choices and more attractive BBI concessions. Upon commissioning of new railways, the TD will re-organise franchised bus and other public transport services with greater vigour. In parallel, the TD and franchised bus companies have been reducing the frequency of bus trips plying along busy corridors as far as practicable. In 2012, over 700 bus trips were removed from busy corridors in Central and Causeway Bay as well as Nathan Road.
Separately, we alleviate traffic congestion via using new technologies in traffic management and implementing on-going traffic management measures. For example, Internet and mobile applications are employed to provide passengers and motorists with real-time traffic information and route search service to facilitate their early planning of preferred routes. Speed Map Panels have been installed before divergent points of various trunk roads in the New Territories heading to Kowloon to advise drivers on the Kowloon-bound traffic conditions. With the real-time traffic information displayed on panels, drivers can plan their driving routes beforehand more efficiently. Also, various traffic management measures are implemented in various districts, such as bus priority schemes, pedestrianisation schemes, control of loading/unloading activities and Area Traffic Control Schemes.
We have been monitoring the effectiveness of the above measures, and will continue to enhance traffic management by a multi-pronged approach, with a view to alleviating traffic congestion.
(b) At present, there are two categories of registered owners on the Register of Vehicles maintained by the TD, i.e. "individuals" and "non-individuals" (such as associations and institutions). Statistics of registered owners of newly registered private cars in the past five years are set out in Annex 3.
For registered owners who are individuals, TD has no breakdown on whether or not such applicants are Hong Kong permanent residents.
(c) To tackle vehicle growth, we have been closely monitoring the number of vehicles and vehicle journey speed for early identification and determination of the need to implement measures to curb excessive increase. Previously we have implemented financial measures to control the size of the vehicle fleet, including adjustment in the first registration tax (FRT) and annual licence fee for vehicles. In 2011, we raised the rates for all FRT bands for private cars by about 15% so as to contain the growth of this vehicle type to alleviate traffic congestion. We have noted a drop and a slowdown in the increase of licensed private cars in 2012 subsequent to the upward adjustment of the FRT. During the period, the overall journey speed of vehicles in Hong Kong has remained stable in general. We have no plan for the time being to limit the validity period of vehicle licences.
We have also examined toll measures to improve the traffic distribution on roads. The most recent example is the proposal to rationalise traffic distribution among the road harbour crossings by toll adjustment. We have conducted a consultancy study with a view to identifying an option that is feasible both in financial and legal terms. In end-2010, we conducted a public consultation on the findings and recommendations of the consultancy study. In response to the opinions gauged during the public consultation, we have revised the toll adjustment options proposed by the consultants, and have just completed early this month a three-month public consultation exercise on our proposed toll adjustment options. The fee for the consultancy study on the revised toll adjustment options is about $0.8 million.
Electronic road pricing (ERP) aims at regulating the traffic flow by charging tolls at congested roads, thus relieving traffic congestion. ERP was first suggested in early 1980s but the views have been diverse in the community. Whether or not ERP should be introduced, we have to take into account many factors such as the availability of alternative routes for motorists to bypass the charging zone to avoid mandatory toll payment. To take forward any proposal, apart from its being feasible from the technical aspect as well as the traffic management perspective, we would also need to have consensus within the community. We need to further study these issues.
Ends/Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:41
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