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LCQ15: Provision of parking spaces and enforcement actions against illegal parking
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     Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (January 20):

Question:

     Earlier, some members of the public have relayed to me that the long-standing shortfall of parking spaces in East Kowloon has annoyed drivers, and some drivers have thus parked their vehicles by the roadside, thereby posing road safety hazards. Regarding the problems of shortage of parking space and illegal parking, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective numbers of public parking spaces currently available for use by the following types of vehicles, as well as their respective day time and night time average usage rates: (i) private cars and taxis, (ii) light goods vehicles, (iii) medium/heavy goods vehicles, (iv) container vehicles, (v) coaches and buses, and (vi) light buses, together with a breakdown by District Council (DC) district and type of parking spaces (i.e. on-street parking spaces, parking spaces in government car parks and those in private car parks);

(2) of the number of parking spaces cancelled due to change in land use and the number of parking spaces newly added, in the past five years, broken down by DC district;

(3) of the current number of Traffic Wardens on the establishment performing duties in each DC district;

(4) of the number of fixed penalty tickets (tickets) issued by the authorities for illegal parking in the past five years, together with a breakdown by DC district; given that the authorities conducted in early 2014 a trial of Electronic Fixed Penalty Tickets which made use of personal digital assistants and portable printers to issue tickets, of the number and percentage of the tickets issued this way among those issued since 2014; and

(5) given that the acute increase in the number of private cars in recent years is one of the causes for the problem of illegal parking, whether the Government will consider introducing measures to reduce the number of private cars; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and the new measures in place to slow down the increase in the number of private cars?

Reply:

President,

     My reply to the various parts of the Hon Wong Kwok-kin's question is as follows:

(1) The Transport Department (TD) has been monitoring the supply and demand for parking spaces in Hong Kong. As at December 2015, the total number of parking spaces in the Hong Kong is around 728 000 (including public parking spaces provided by the Government, privately operated public parking spaces and parking spaces solely for private use), providing parking spaces for some 690 000 licensed vehicles in Hong Kong (Note). The geographical distribution of parking spaces in Hong Kong is at Annex 1.

     Regarding utilisation rate, the average utilisation rates of short-term tenancy car parks in various districts are set out in Annex 2, and the utilisation rates of the 12 Government multi-storey car parks managed by the TD are at Annex 3. As for the utilisation rates of car parks operated by other government departments (e.g. the Housing Department and Government Property Agency, etc.) and private operators, the Government does not have such information.

     We have already undertaken to conduct a parking policy review in the 2016-17 financial year, with priority accorded to considering and meeting the parking need of commercial vehicles. In the light of the review findings, we will examine improvement measures including updating the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines.

(2) During the period from 2011 to 2015, there was a net increase of around 24 200 parking spaces in Hong Kong as a whole, with most districts recording a growth in the number of parking spaces. The year-on-year comparison of the changes in parking spaces in various districts due to changes in land use during 2011 to 2015 is at Annex 4. The districts with the greatest increases in the number of parking spaces were Tai Po, Yuen Long and Sai Kung, with increases of about 4 300, 3 900 and 3 300 respectively. On the other hand, the number of parking spaces has decreased in Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon City, Wong Tai Sin and the North Districts. It should be noted that instead of recording a continuous decrease in the number of parking space, districts such as Yau Tsim Mong have in fact recorded increases and decreases during different years over the past five years. The utilisation rates of short-term tenancy car parks in Annex 2 also indicate that currently parking spaces are still available for use in these districts. The TD expects that the level of supply of parking spaces will increase upon the completion of new development projects in these districts.

(3) Currently, the Police assign Traffic Wardens based on the five Police Land Regions rather than the DC districts. As at end-2015, the numbers of officers of the Traffic Warden Grade in various Land Regions are tabulated below:

                        Total no. of officers
                     of the Traffic Warden Grade
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Hong Kong Island                  73
Kowloon East                      30
Kowloon West                      98
New Territories North             30
New Territories South             50
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Total                            281

(4) A breakdown of the fixed penalty tickets issued for illegal parking from 2010 to 2014 based on the above Police Regions is at Annex 5.

     The Police are still compiling the number of fixed penalty tickets issued in 2015 for illegal parking. In addition, the Police do not keep the relevant figures sorted by DC districts.

     The Police completed the Electronic Fixed Penalty Tickets trial scheme in September 2014. The trial is an internal one conducted within the Police, and has not been officially launched. According to the Police, the Electronic Fixed Penalty Tickets scheme has been included in the Police's plan for developing the Central Traffic Prosecutions Computer System, and the scheme could be launched in 2019 (fourth quarter) the earliest.

(5) The growth in vehicle fleet size is one of the factors contributing to road traffic congestion. The number of total licensed vehicles increases substantially over the years. As at October 2015 (the full-year figure of 2015 is still being compiled), the number of private cars, which account for 70 per cent of all licensed vehicles, grew by about 50 per cent in the past decade, and this increase alone constituted 90 per cent of the total increase in licensed vehicles during the period.

     To tackle the problem of road traffic congestion, the Secretary for Transport and Housing invited the Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) in 2014 to study the matter. The TAC submitted a study report to the Government in December 2014 and recommended a series of short-, medium- and long-term measures to tackle road traffic congestion, including measures to contain vehicle growth, such as raising first registration tax and annual licence fee of private cars, and raising "fuel levy" for diesel private cars. At the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Transport held last May, we have already stated clearly that the Government agreed in principle with the TAC's recommendations and undertook to take them forward in phases having regard to stakeholders' views, availability of resources, latest technology, overseas experience, etc. Last month, we took forward two of the TAC's recommendations, namely the launching of public engagement exercise for an Electronic Road Pricing pilot scheme in Central and its adjacent areas, and making a proposal to raise the fixed penalty charges for congestion-related traffic offences in tandem with inflation.

Note: The number does not include vehicle types that can park at depots or usually operate on a 24-hour basis, such as franchised buses, etc.

Ends/Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:20

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