26
Wednesday, June 7, 1972
"In addition, new meters will be installed in areas where the
demand for parking is clearly exceptionally high and the existing meters
so displaced will be moved to other areas being metered for the first
time. All this will take some months to achieve but, eventually, there
will be a hierarchy of charges for metered spaces depending on demand.
"Over and above this, as from 1st July a start will be made to
extend meter charging to midnight and to include Sundays and public
holidays. The reason for this is that the demand for parking in many
areas is very often just as high, or even higher, during these periods
as during daylight hours on weekdays.
"The Road Traffic (Parking and Waiting) (Amendment) Regulations
1972, to which I have just referred give effect to these new charges and
extended hours of operation.
"Sir, the role which parking charges should ultimately play in
a policy seeking to optimise the use of road space seems to me to be
inevitable for, despite our vast road reconstruction and development
programme, road space will always be a scarce resource; and it is surely
significant that parking charges are used as a weapon in the armoury of
traffic control in most, if not all, large cities with traffic problems.
"Meanwhile, as the present charges in Hong Kong do not even
recover historical costs and recurrent expenses, I am sure there will
be agreement that the general taxpayer should not be required to continue
to subsidise car owners in this way."
27.***
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