Speech by PSTL at 26th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies (English only)
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Professor Guo (Provost of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Guo Yike), Professor S C Wong (President of the Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies, Professor Wong Sze-chun), Professor Becky Loo (Director of the Institute of Transport Studies of the University of Hong Kong), Professor Hong Lo (Co-chair, the 26th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies), Dr Sisi Jian (Co-chair, the 26th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It is my real pleasure to be here today and have the opportunity to say a few words at the 26th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies (HKSTS).
The sustainable development of Hong Kong relies greatly on an efficient and dynamic traffic and transport system. It is therefore a vital responsibility for the Government to formulate policies on matters relating to Hong Kong's internal and external transportation, including air services, land transport, maritime transport and logistics. This is exactly why my bureau has been re-organised and renamed as the Transport and Logistics Bureau. In the professional field, the HKSTS has been playing an important role since 1996 to foster and support excellence in transportation research and practice, which in turn has facilitated Hong Kong's transportation and logistics development. Apart from contributing to transportation research and development in the region, the HKSTS provides a platform for academics and practitioners from all over the world to interact for the betterment of the transportation studies field, exchanging bright ideas and spearheading the practical application of state-of-the-art technologies.
We have always been forward-looking in transport planning. The Government conducted the third Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS) in 1999 in view of the population growth in Hong Kong and the upsurge in demand for cross-boundary traffic. The third CTS laid down Hong Kong's transport strategy comprising the five "betters" - they are better integration of transport and land use planning, better use of railway as the backbone of the passenger transport system, provision of better public transport services and facilities, better use of advanced technologies in traffic management, and formulation of better environmental protection transport measures. These five strategies remain applicable today, and largely echo the theme of "GREAT transportation".
On transport infrastructure development, the Government has been advocating the "infrastructure-led" and "capacity-creating" planning principles in taking forward various transport infrastructure projects over the years. It is our target to unleash the development potential of new development areas along the major transport corridors and to meet the long-term transport and logistics demand in a forward-looking manner, while fostering better integration with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Firstly, the Government is now conducting the Strategic Studies on Railways and Major Roads beyond 2030 (RMR2030+) to formulate a forward-looking Major Transport Infrastructure Development Blueprint for Hong Kong up to and beyond 2046 with a view to achieving the goals of "driving development", "strengthening connection" and "improving efficiency".
Under the RMR2030+, we analysed the long-term domestic and cross-boundary transport demands with reference to the latest planning data and land use developments. As revealed from the analysis so far, with the progressive commissioning of the railway and major road projects in the pipeline as well as utilisation of the existing railway network to its maximum carrying capacity, we project that Hong Kong's railway and major road network will be largely adequate to meet the transport demand in the short-to-medium term up to around 2041, and most of the existing and anticipated traffic bottlenecks will then be alleviated. Having said that, in the long-term, we anticipate the transport demand for the east-west connection within the Northern Metropolis, the north-south connection between the Northern Metropolis and the Harbour Metropolis, as well as the external connection of some of the new development areas, such as Tseung Kwan O, a heavily populated area on the eastern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula, will be increasing.
We therefore propose to take forward, among others, three strategic railways and three major roads, including Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link (Hung Shui Kiu - Qianhai), Central Rail Link, Tseung Kwan O Line Southern Extension, Northern Metropolis Highway, Shatin Bypass and Tseung Kwan O - Yau Tong Tunnel. The public consultation exercise for the study is currently in progress and will last until end March next year. I very much hope that members of today as well as the society will kindly share with us your professional views on the study findings and the infrastructure proposals, which will be valuable for us to formulate the Major Transport Infrastructure Development Blueprint with alignment, stations, cost estimates as well as implementation timetable by the end of next year for the Hong Kong's betterment. One of the railways we propose is the Central Rail Link, a quite innovative proposal from our point of view. We really hope to bring in the concept of "Resilience" for this railway line serving as the north-south connection. The Central Rail Link may not be able to attract very significant amount of new patronage by means of new property development, but we do hope that we could build in "Resilience" in the entire railway network in order to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness in bringing people around the territory.
Secondly, we are conducting a Traffic and Transport Strategy Study (TTSS) to map out the long-term Transport Strategy Blueprint for Hong Kong, with a view to establishing a reliable, safe, smart, environmentally friendly and highly efficient transport system so as to ensure sustainable development of Hong Kong and the smooth flow of people and goods within the Greater Bay Area. In particular, we are conducting topical studies in a fast-track manner on subject areas such as smart motorway, personalised and point-to-point transport service quality and as far as Transport Interchange Hubs, an upgraded version of our transport interchange. All these findings will be instrumental in setting out a forward-looking traffic and transport strategy that will make good use of new technologies. We aim to release preliminary recommendations of the TTSS in the second half of next year, and hopefully promulgate the final Blueprint in 2025. So again, I do appeal to professionals and academia from Hong Kong as well as overseas to contribute and share with us your insights of the latest state-of-the-art technology and innovative ideas so as to enhance the substance and the quality of our blueprint.
I have talked quite a bit about our longer-term planning. Before I wrap up my speech today, let me zoom back to one of our more imminent plans which will also be conducive to a greener and more adaptable traffic management, which is adjusting the tolls for our cross-habour tunnels. Hong Kong people have to cross the harbour nearly on a daily basis for school, work and businesses. The fact that the tolls for using these tunnels are very different does not really help - the Western Harbour Crossing is still privately owned and it charges significantly higher tolls than the other two, which is partly because tolls of the other two tunnels, i.e. the Cross Harbour Tunnel and the Eastern Harbour Crossing, have not been adjusted for some two decades. So the toll structure set then has actually by and large lost their traffic management effect by now. The Government is now presented with a golden opportunity to fix this problem. After three decades of private ownership, the Government is scheduled to take over the Western Harbour Crossing in less than a year's time. We are set to seize this opportunity to alleviate cross-harbour traffic congestion in a sensible, pragmatic and yet measured manner. We will first narrow the gap of the tolls of the three tunnels. We are confident that drivers' behaviours will shift in choosing a tunnel that is more convenient for their particular trips on the day, instead of choosing the cheapest one, such as the Cross Harbour Tunnel which is at the most accessible location and the cheapest. So no doubt the approaching roads leading to the Cross Harbour Tunnel are basically busy throughout the day and the capacity for the traffic load has well exceeded its planned capacity. We trust this will help rationalise cross-harbour traffic and better utilise the capacity of the three tunnels.
While this will be our first step, that is not all. Our second step is to introduce time-varying tolls through the adoption of boothless payment through radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, so that drivers' behaviours will further change within a day - and we will then put our tolling focus on peak hour traffic. By differentiating the tolls between the busy and less busy hours of a day, we hope to change complementarily the commuting pattern of private car drivers, so as to suppress and divert the excessive traffic demand during peak hours. We of course hope that with the enhancement of public transport and also the introduction of more park-and-ride facilities, we can actually incentivise more motors and drivers to shift to use public transport which is the ultimate solution. We hope that this staged approach will allow people to adapt to the changes in the structures and levels of the cross-harbour tunnel tolls step-by-step, so as to alleviate cross-harbour traffic congestion in a staged manner amid the progressive recovery of the economy from the pandemic.
The above is just a glimpse of what we are pressing ahead. I hope that you will keep visiting us in years to come, so that we will be able to show you in Hong Kong new changes every time and again, a new road here and a new railway there, and also new technology everywhere, so as to connect you to different parts of Hong Kong as well as different cities of the Greater Bay Area.
I very much look forward to hearing speakers' ideas at the panel discussion today. I know that you have very full and fruitful sessions today and tomorrow. I also wish the HKSTS and its members continued success and new accomplishments in the future. You are our close partners and we do need your advice and support. Thank you very much.
Ends/Monday, December 12, 2022
Issued at HKT 17:17
Issued at HKT 17:17
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