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Following is a question by the Hon Frankie Yick and the reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (June 24):
Question:
In its Report on Study of Road Traffic Congestion in Hong Kong published in December last year, the Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) put forward a number of recommendations, which included reviewing parking policy, disseminating real-time information on vacant parking spaces, and examining how to solicit the co-operation of operators of commercial off-street car parks to make available information on vacant parking spaces, so that motorists would not need to circulate and wait on roads looking for available parking spaces, which might cause congestion. The authorities announced last month that the various recommendations in the Report will be taken forward in phases. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as I have learnt that the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has developed an Advanced Automobile Parking Navigation Platform, an award-winning system in an international exhibition of inventions, which enables motorists to know the number of remaining parking spaces in nearby car parks through mobile phone applications, but at present only a few private car parks support the system, whether the Government will consider installing facilities which support the system in government car parks and encouraging more private car parks to follow suit; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether the authorities had, before closing the Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park on July 1 last year, conducted a study on the demand and supply situation of the parking spaces in the Tsim Sha Tsui district; if they had, of the details, including the shortage of parking spaces in the district and the authorities' mitigation measures in place; if they had not conducted such a study, the reasons for that; and
(3) whether it will consider reviewing the standards and guidelines on the provision of parking facilities in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines and launching again a study on the demand for parking spaces, in order to plan for the number of parking spaces in response to the changes in the number of vehicles; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
I would like to state the Government's view on the growth of vehicle fleet size and the policy direction on parking before replying the substantive questions raised by Hon Frankie Yick.
The Government is very concerned about the current growing trend of private cars (PCs). The Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) submitted the "Report on Study of Road Traffic Congestion in Hong Kong" to me late last year. The report points out that currently PC accounts for about 70 per cent of the total number of licensed vehicles. The PC fleet size has grown by 40 per cent between 2003 and 2013, constituting about 90 per cent of the total increase in the number of licensed vehicles during the same period. If the vehicle fleet is allowed to grow at the current trend, the total number of vehicles in Hong Kong will reach one million in 10 years' time, of which 700 000 will be PCs.
Owing to the geographical, engineering and environmental constraints in respect of building new roads, the growth in public road will not be able to catch up with the growth rates of the vehicle fleet and vehicle usage. The public is also concerned about impact caused by the road traffic on air quality. As such, the Government agrees that there is a need for a multi-pronged strategy to tackle road traffic congestion problem, including managing the growth of PC fleet size, and at the same time, enhancing the capacity of the public transport system that is efficient in terms of road usage, so as to reduce the reliance on PCs.
In respect of parking need, the land resources in Hong Kong are scarce. Currently, the Government's policy in the provision of parking spaces is to accord, as far as possible, priority in considering and meeting the parking demand of commercial vehicles. Commercial vehicles (in particular goods vehicles and coaches) serve the function of carrying passengers and goods. They have substantive demand for parking spaces in their daily operations, and have been playing an important role in the logistics industry, tourism industry, as well as the overall economy.
Compared to commercial vehicles, PCs are largely used for private purposes. The Government has always been adopting a policy that is centred on public transport, in maintaining a public transport system with wide coverage, high efficiency and diversity. PCs are not essential as a transport mode under most circumstances. Currently, 90 per cent of the passengers are relying on the public transport services, which amount to around 12 million.
On the policy premises of according priority to the parking need of commercial vehicles and centering on public transport, the Government will still provide an appropriate number of parking spaces for PCs if the overall development permits, but not intend to attract passengers to opt for PCs in lieu of public transport. How the balance is struck would base on the policy principles and also the actual situation in the districts. When there are new development or redevelopment projects, which give the opportunity to increase the parking provision for PCs, in considering providing more parking spaces, we have to also consider the need for other land or floor area uses.
My replies to the various parts of the Hon Frankie Yick's question are as follows.
(1) It is one of the Government's transport policy objectives to actively pursue the use of the latest technology for managing road traffic more efficiently. We share the view that if motorists can obtain real-time information on vacant parking spaces in car parks, the instances where they circulate on roads looking for parking spaces, thus causing traffic congestion, can be reduced.
At present, the hourly parking spaces provided under the car parks of the Transport Department (TD) and the Housing Department account for about 3 per cent of the total number of hourly parking spaces in Hong Kong, with the rest owned and operated by commercial entities. We will review to see if the real-time parking space information system should be provided in government car parks, take into account factors including cost effectiveness, resources required and the exemplary effect. Meanwhile, the TD will communicate with and encourage operators of commercial public car parks to make better use of web-based technology to disseminate real-time information on vacant parking spaces in their car parks.
(2) As regards the redevelopment plan for the Middle Road Car Park, the Government had commissioned a consultant to conduct a traffic impact assessment on the traffic and parking space situation in Tsim Sha Tsui. Based on the consultant's recommendations, the Government has requested the developer to provide, on top of the 72 parking spaces for PC required for the development project itself, an additional 345 PC parking spaces after completion of the redevelopment project, giving a total of 417 parking spaces. It is expected that they can meet the long-term need in the district. During the redevelopment, the public car parks within the district should largely be able to cope with the short-term parking need thereat. Moreover, with the relatively comprehensive public transport network in Tsim Sha Tsui, the public can use public transport to go there.
(3) Apart from managing the PC fleet size, TAC has also pointed out in its report that, the Government should review the parking policy to find out the optimum level of parking provision.
The Government agrees with TAC's recommendations, and plans to commence the review of parking policy in a timely manner. We will accord priority in considering and meeting the parking need of commercial vehicles. At present, apart from providing a designated number of parking spaces for commercial vehicles in industrial buildings, the Government meets the demand mainly through road side parking spaces and short-term tenancy car parks. Depending on the review result in future, the TD will explore improvement measures and consider whether there is a need for to update the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, as well as other means of providing more parking spaces for commercial vehicles.
The TD will continue to monitor the parking situation of all vehicle types and will endeavour to provide more parking facilities at suitable sites without compromising road safety or affecting other road users.
Ends/Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:17
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