however, there are many places in the urban area where capacity is seriously restricted by obstructions.
It is estimated that in the urban areas generally, only 60 per cent ef- ficiency is being obtained from the main street system, due to obstruc- tions, including hawkers; and the minor street system is used at less than 40 per cent efficiency.
Better Financial Planning
In view of the widespread obstruc- tion to free movement and the effect that this has on traffic capacity, the authors recommend;
(1) that Government should define
its policy concerning the use of the street system so as to enable the better planning of capital expenditure on long-
term measures; (2) that the road system should be classified into route types, and on each of these the amount and kinds of поп- traffic activity that will be tolerated should be specified; (3) that comprehensive action
should be taken to reduce the large amount of unnecessary obstruction to free movement, that is being caused by all sec- tions of the community; and (4) that a post should be created
within the Transport Office for a senior officer with execu- tive powers who would be responsible for a reduction in the amount of obstruction. The report says that traffic planning must extend over the entire area, not just the main routes. A traffic man- agement team should be set up, staff- ed jointly by the Transport Office, the Traffic Branch of the Hong Kong Police Force and the Traffic Engineer- ing Division of the Public Works De- partment, to maintain supervision of vehicular and passenger movement and to plan traffic route systems around and within functional
areas.
Clearway System
variation of the annual licence fee to hold the increase of vehicle registration down to a rate of about four per cent each year. At the same time, serious consideration should be given to the starting of a programme of work leading to the use of road pricing as the main method of control of vehicle ownership:
(2) the amendment of the regula- tions so that the annual licence fee may be used to discourage people from the purchase of buying large cars; and (3) the introduction of a vehicle testing scheme for all classes
of vehicles.
Although the clearing away of obstructions and the use of traffic management schemes will produce a great deal of extra capacity, there are still many places where improvements to a satisfactory standard will not be possible, even when a reduced rate of 4 per cent in new vehicle registration is taken into account. Already major improvements are badly needed at most of these critical locations, says the report.
The work programme is a long one, and there are many more critical locations in Kowloon than on Hong Kong Island. The authors suggest that the existing parity in civil en- gineering services between the Island on the one hand and Kowloon and New Kowloon on the other is now out of date and that the latter should be separated into two sub-offices East and West Kowloon.
Payment of Royalties
On public transport, the experts urge Government to unify its policy on royalty payments to remove any anomalies.
that,
However, the report says up-to-date
where a public transport company enjoys a monopoly, Government is responsible for defining reasonable standards of service that should be provided and also for exercising some form of supervision to ensure that they are being maintained.
Other recommendations include the creation of a peak hour “clearway system" on certain roads.
ог
The report says that the rate of in- crease of the number of vehicles on the roads has been so great that, if continued, the community will be un- able to find resources in land, capital constructive effort sufficient to provide the required additions to road and parking capacity whilst at the same time being committed to reset- tlement, water supply, sewage and other works of high priority.
Already there is a deficiency of parking spaces in the urban areas and it is also evident that many key road intersections are being used to their full capacity. It seems unavoidable therefore that action should be taken to slow down the increased rate in the number of vehicles using the roads.
The report recommends:
(1)
as a short-term solution, the
Far East Architect & Builder March, 1968
In Hong Kong or any other large
city, where vast numbers of people rely on public transport every day, it would be possible for an unscrupulous company, protected by a restrictive franchise, to obtain the most satisfac- tory return on its investment by serv- ing only the most concentrated and steady part of the demand.
It is for this reason that the stand- ards should include some measure of control over the aspects of capacity offered, frequency, hours of service, fares, cleanliness and comfort, and penetration which means that routes should reach out where they are needed so that passengers do not have great distances to walk.
Better Bus Schedules
The experts say that the community should not expect the transport com- panies to provide new and faster types of services until the street sys- tem has been improved sufficiently to make these practicable. Given satis- factory operating conditions, however, a much higher quality of service can quite reasonably be expected.
They say that transport fares are very low in Hong Kong. Buses use space 8.7 times more efficiently than private cars but better bus-operating
schedules are needed.
In terms of the use of land, trams give a better service than any other form of transport on the Island. Half of all passengers moving in and out of the Central District are carried by trams using only a 15-ft. strip of road. The report says there is no case for doing
until an with trams, away equivalent but faster alternative is available.
Full Parking Survey
Any parking policy adopted by the Government should have the second- ary aim of removing not only cars parked illegally, but all cars parked on the streets at night, whether parked Until that is achiev- illegally or not.
ed, the report says, there will always be street clearing and road safety pro- blems in the many streets where park- ing is allowed.
Numbers of registered vehicles
→
Colony 1951-1966
Vehicle Classification (see notes below)
Year- end
Taxis.
cars
Motor Private public cycles
cars
Motor buses
Lorries & vans
etc.
Govern- ment cars & lorries
Dua! purpose
Total
vehicles
1
1951
1 023
9 764
629
431
2 427
739
15 013
1952
1 044
11 015
626
498
2 535
780
16 498
1953
1 109
12 371
626
520
2 638
838
18 102
1954
1 199
14 500
627
535
2 808
802
20 471
1955
1 427
16 802
627
563
3 098
814
23 331
1956
1 783
19 591
627
644
3 821
870
27 336
1957
2009
22 474
693
724
4 711
1 077
31 688
1958
2 433
24 378
693
741
5 805
1 255
35 305
1959
2 888
26 884
851
775
7 007
1 215
39 620
1960
3 535
31 507
1 026
871
9 151
1 129
47 219
1961
4 095
35 778
1 431
1 010
9 636
1 549
634
54 133
1962
4 949
40 216
1978
1 185
10 867
1 694
593
61 482
1963
6 665
45 210
2 150
1 346
13 467
1 840
703
71 381
1964
9 173
51 073
2 377
1 525
15 653
1 973
1 278
83 052
1965
9 820
54 272
3 409
1 719
15 397
2 199
1 756
1966 10 549
56 911
3 728
1 920
15 319
2 411
2 065
88 572 92 903
55
55