Thursday, September 21, 1972
Mr. Butler said: "Engineers predicted that even if we were really
beastly to the private motorists our roads could not cope with the predicted
demand for purely public transport."
This is why the Government has decided in principle to build
the Mass Transit Railway.
Mr. Butler expressed the hope that the speed differential offered
by the mass transit over the private car would provide some inducement to
motorists to leave their cars at home in peak hours.
However, he emphasised that this is not the fundamental reason why
consideration is being given to spending over $6,000 million on the scheme.
The mass transit system is primarily for "the car-less majority."
The Acting Commissioner said he was not "gloomy" about Hong Kong's
transport future. In a compact urban area good transport was fairly easy
to establish.
"But in the peak hours, at any rate, it has got to be public transport. This means that private transport has to be discriminately discouraged and
public transport improved to a level which at least makes it a second-best
to the private car."
Mr. Butler said that for surface public transport improvements in
speed and frequencies would come automatically as other traffic was constrained.
At the moment, he added, bus speeds in many cases were down to five miles
an hour in the "glue pot" at peak hours.
/Earlier