XN000022-1972-03-08 — Page 1

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P.A.H. 7

HONG KONG GOVERNMENT

INFORMATION SERVICES

DAILY INFORMATION

BULLETIN

Wednesday, March 8, 1972

OBJECT OF INCREASED CAR PARKING CHARGES

To Ease Problem Of Road Congestion

"The proposed increased car parking charges announced in the Budget

should help ease Hong Kong's worsening problem of road congestion," a government

spokesman said today. Parking charges are to be raised not so much because

of a shortage of car parks but because of the shortage of road space.

"By constricting parking the companion activity of motoring is controlled,"

the spokesman said, adding that practical experience in Western cities

indicated that higher parking fees did discourage people from driving their

cars to work, thereby helping to ease congestion in urban centres at peak hours.

With the higher charges proposed, people previously motoring to and

from work would be induced either to share cars or to use public transport

facilities.

Moreover many would-be motorists would recognise that they could

not afford to use their cars for the journey to and from work. At present a

great deal of peak hour congestion is caused by commuters who park their cars

all day along in city centres. They drive in during the morning, fill the car

parks and drive out after work in the evening. While they are on the roads

they use road space uneconomically by comparison with public transport, and

while their vehicles are parked they prevent short-term parkers from finding

/parking