3
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1984
WHILE IT MIGHT APPEAR THAT THE PROBLEM OF CONGESTION HAL LEEN SOLVED, HE POINTED OUT THAT IN FACT TRAVEL DEMAND HAD BEEN NCREASING BY FIVE TO 10 PER CENT EACH YEAR WHICH MEANT THAT EACH YEAR THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM HAD TO COPE WITH AT LEAST 400 ADDITIONAL TRIPS PER DAY.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, MR SCOTT SAID THE FOLLOWING FIVE PRESSURES WOULD LEAD TO INCREASING TRAFFIC ON OUR ROADS: THE LATION WHICH GREW BY ONE MILLION EVERY 10 YEARS; THE INCREASING NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS WHICH HOUSED SMALLER FAMILIES ITH NEW TRAVEL NEEDS; DISPERSION OF THE POPULATION WITH MANY SOPLE HAVING TO TRAVEL TO WORK IN THE URBAN AREAS; PROSPERITY; ANT ECONOMIC EXPANSION.
HE SAID THAT BY 1991, HONG KONG LIVING STANDARDS WOULD BE APPROACHING EUROPEAN LEVELS AND THIS GROWTH IN PROSPERITY WOULD STIMULATE A RENEWED STRONG DEMAND FOR CARS.
HE SAID THE GOVERNMENT WAS ALREADY SPENDING $1 600 MILLION A YEAR ON OUR ROADS AND HAD INVESTED HEAVILY IN OFF-ROAD SYSTEMS SUCH AS THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY AND THE MODERNISED KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY.
+GOVERNMENT WILL BY CHOICE CONTINUE WITH THE CURRENT LEVEL OF INVESTMENT IN ROADS, AND THIS WILL HELP TO RELIEVE SOME STRATEGIC BOTTLENECKS. BUT EVEN THIS HIGH LEVEL OF INVESTMENT CAN DO LITTLE TO IMPROVE THE INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY OF ROADS IN THE URBAN AREA IN PEAK PERIODS.
+wE ARE IRRESISTIBLY LED TO A POLICY OF RESTRAINT - AND THE QUESTION IS: WHAT IS THE FAIREST AND MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD TO SELECT TO IMPLEMENT THE POLICY?+ HE ASKED.
IN PRACTICE, THERE WERE TWO TYPES OF RESTRAINT MEASURES, HE SAID, NOTING THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD ALREADY TRIED THE FIRST METHOD WHICH WAS TO TACKLE ROAD USAGE INDIRECTLY BY INCREASING THE COST OF OWNING A CAR.
WHILE SEVERE TAX AND LICENCE FEES WOULD CERTAINLY DETER GROWTH IN THE VEHICLE POPULATION AND REQUIRE LITTLE EFFORT ON THE PART OF GOVERNMENT, MR SCOTT NONETHELESS SAID IT WAS INEFFICIENT AND UNF AIR.
+ IT WAS DELIBERATELY INTRODUCED IN 1982 AS AN INTER IM MEASURE, WITH THE PLEDGE THAT GOVERNMENT WOULD RSEARCH FOR
A MORE ÉQUITABLE METHOD, A PLEDGE WHICH THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL NOTED AND EXPECTS TO BE HONOURED.
POLICYĮ,
+THE MAY 1982 MEASURES BOUGHT US TIME BY RESTRICTING AND FLTUCING CAR OWNERSHIP. BUT IT IS NOT THE GOVERNMENT C. TAIL PERSONAL TRANSPORT SEVERELY.
/+='IRSAL MEASURES,