HONG KONG
MASTER POLICY FOR
TRANSPORT URGED
A LONG-TERM "master" policy for
transport is called for in Hong Kong Passenger Transport Survey 1964-66. This master policy must be based on comprehensive knowledge so as to reduce arbitrary decisions, it says. Urgent consideration should be given to the financing of transport, the calculation of priorities, the cor- rect balance between public and private travel and a sound parking policy, if transport is to meet public demand.
The report is based on surveys in- cluding travel time and patterns, traffic and parking, and on home interviews. It is written by Mr. E. Dalby of the Tropical Section, Road Research Laboratory, British Ministry
Map showing daily traffic flow
54
of Transport, with the assistance of officers of the Passenger Transport Survey Unit of the Public Works Department.
A number of short-term measures is recommended to keep existing pas- senger transport working efficiently in the years before a rapid mass transit or equivalent system is in full opera- tion. These include the control of car ownership, removal of road obstruc- tions, good traffic management, some new road construction and improve- ments to the public transport system.
The survey team says that in Hong Kong, one half of all trips made are connected in some way with paid work. Therefore any falling behind in the efficiency of the transport sys-
tem will affect people's livelihoods and Hong Kong's productive effort. They believe that decisions must first be made about the extent to which mass transport will be needed and private transport tolerated. Then policies can be established for individual aspects like parking.
The experts say that transportation should not be considered as "compet- ing" with medical services, education and resettlement for available finan- cial allocations, when deciding on priorities for capital investment. In- stead a decision should be made about the proportion of the national income that can be spent on transportation as a whole, and the standards of road and rail design to be adopted ex- pressed in terms of traffic flows, operating speeds, safety margins, etc.
Steady Increase
The surveys and forecasts in the report show the steady increase in the use of transport. In their terminology a trip is each journey made by a single person. Ten trips daily could be ten separate trips by ten separate people, five trips each by two people or ten all by one person. They cal culated 2,820,000 trips daily in 1965 and forecast a 34 per cent increase to 3,780,000 by 1971.
At present 19 per cent of this daily travel is by car or other private transport and if there is no restriction on car-owning this would rise to 29 per cent by 1971.
There would be at least 350,000 vehicles of all types on the roads by 1986. This number, almost four times the present figure, would need a large and very expensive road and parking construction programme. Space for the large intersections need- ed to handle the increased traffic flows would have to be found either by overhead or underground construc- tion or by radical re-development of adjoining property.
Even so, only about one-third of all households would own cars. To provide satisfactory transport for the rest, the report claims, a rapid mass transport system would be needed.
High Population Density
The gross population density of the urban area of Hong Kong is one of the highest in the world so it is not surprising that the street mileage is small when compared with other cities of the same population, Also because much of Hong Kong has had to be developed on steep hills, some streets have stairways in them and cannot be used by wheeled vehicles. Other streets are either too narrow or have been officially closed for street markets.
Consequently, of the 329.8 miles of public right-of-way in the urban areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon, only 304.5 miles or 92 per cent can legally be used by vehicular traffic. It is therefore important that every street should be able to carry as much traffic as possible. At the moment,
Far East Architect & Builder March, 1968
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