CURRENT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Land transport services cover a wide range of activities from public transport and land freight transport services to car parking and operation of road tunnels. Hong Kong's land transport services are efficient, geographically comprehensive and safe. It has one of the world's most comprehensive ?and one of the few unsubsidised ?public transport networks which keep its passengers moving around the clock. There were more than 10 million passenger journeys a day in 1995.

• The land transport services sector contributed nearly 2.8% of the Gross omestic Product in 1994 and is now providing about 130 000 jobs.

• The public transport network provides a good range of choices to commuters at reasonable fares to match the different levels of comfort, speed and convenience offered. In 1995, public transport continued to be the most popular mode of transport in Hong Kong. Everyday,
  • Four franchised bus companies together carried 3.5 million passengers on a network of 491 routes.

  • The Mass Transit Railway (MTR), with a fleet of 759 cars operating in eight-car trains, handled 2.2 million passengers.

  • The Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) carried over 635?00 passenger journeys with a fleet of 351 cars along a 34-kilometre railway.

  • The Light Rail Transit system handled 336 000 boardings.

  • The electric trams served 312 000 boardings with 163 trams along its 13-kilometre double track, which runs along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island.

  • A fleet of 4 350 public light buses, each with a maximum passenger capacity of 16, carried over 1.7 million passengers.

  • A total of 18 000 taxis served 1.3 million passengers.

• Cross-border land traffic between Hong Kong and China registered a growth of 11% in 1995.
  • The four road crossing points together handled an average of 22 000 vehicles a day. Goods vehicles accounted for 95% of the traffic, reflecting the rapid growth in commercial links with China.

  • The KCR continued to play an important role in carrying freight and passenger traffic between Hong Kong and China. Some 40 million passengers crossed the border by rail. A total of 2.35 million tonnes of freight was imported from, and 1.06 million tonnes was exported to, China.

  • At the end of 1994, 30 companies operated tourist coach services across the border.

• In 1994, the private sector provided over 120 000 parking spaces on a commercial basis. This was supplemented by another 21 000 parking spaces owned by the Government and managed by private companies, 13 000 of which were on-street metered parking spaces.

• The Cross Harbour Tunnel, which links Kowloon's Hung Hom and Hong Kong Island's Causeway Bay, is one of the world's busiest four-lane road tunnels, used by an average of 124 000 vehicles a day in 1994.

• Hong Kong has the busiest roads in the world, registering a vehicle density of 274 vehicles per kilometre of road.

THE GOVERNMENT'S COMMITMENT

The Government's objective is to promote the development of the land transport services sector so that it will remain efficient and continue to cater for the economic and social needs of the community. We seek to achieve this :

• by expanding and improving the land transport infrastructure, with the active participation of the private sector where possible;

• by maintaining the roads to a high standard through investments in routine maintenance;

• by actively managing road use to reduce traffic congestion and promote safety;

• by monitoring the performance of public transport operators and encouraging them to continue improving the availability and quality of services;

• by maintaining close liaison with the relevant Chinese authorities on matters relating to cross-border freight and passenger traffic; and

• by discussing major infrastructure projects straddling the border at meetings of the Railway Panel and Roads and Bridges Panel under the Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee (ICC).

POLICY DIRECTIONS

We propose to :

• undertake the Third Comprehensive Transport Study as part of our ongoing planning to improve the transport infrastructure. This will provide us with an up-to-date integrated strategy to guide our major transport infrastructure development up to 2011;

• plan for the implementation of the three high priority projects identified in the Railway Development Strategy, i.e. the Western Corridor Railway, the MTR Tsueng Kwan O Extension, and a rail link between Ma On Shan and Tai Wai, coupled with an extension of the existing KCR line from Hung Hom to Tsimshatsui;

• improve the efficiency of freight transport by formulating and implementing a Freight Transport Strategy;

• consider increasing the provision of parking spaces, in particular for goods vehicles;

• closely monitor the effect of enhanced competition among public bus operators and critically review their performance before deciding on the renewal of franchises;

• consider the findings of a consultancy study on the provision of a full range of transport services to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok;

• examine the feasibility of introducing an Electronic Road Pricing system in Hong Kong, and explore further measures to tackle traffic congestion;

• meet the growing volume of cross-border freight and passenger traffic by increasing the number of kiosks at the Lok Ma Chau Border Crossing and expanding the capacity of the northbound vehicle holding area at the Sha Tau Kok Border Crossing; and

• discuss major cross-border transport infrastructure projects in the ICC, such as enhancing the usage of the existing railway crossing at Lo Wu, considering the need for an additional passenger border crossing at Lok Ma Chau, and studying the implications of proposals to construct the Lingdingyang Bridge and the Shenzhen Western Corridor for Hong Kong.

The private sector has excelled in providing efficient land transport services at competitive prices with minimum government intervention and regulation. Two major projects, the Western Harbour Crossing and the Country Park Section of Route 3, are being constructed by the private sector at a respective cost of $7.5 billion and $7.3 billion under the build-operate-transfer arrangement. The success of the land transport services sector has kept Hong Kong on the move and enabled the economy to expand and take advantage of opportunities offered by the sizeable market in China, as is evident from the rapid increase in the volume of cross-border passenger and freight traffic throughout the past decade.

The private sector makes a vital contribution by investing in technology and research to enhance the efficiency and safety of land transport services.

LONG TERM ISSUES

Traffic congestion creates significant economic and social costs for the community. Hong Kong's difficult terrain and dense building development pose a constant challenge to land transport planning, road construction and maintenance. To enhance the efficient movement of people and goods, we must continue to improve our land transport infrastructure, expand the capacity of existing facilities, upgrade the quality of public transport so that it remains an attractive alternative to car ownership, and explore means to improve road management and maximise the use of limited road space.

As our commercial and social links with China continue to develop, there is also a need to ensure a free flow of land traffic between Hong Kong and China. To achieve this, we must continue to develop new transport infrastructure to match the growth in demand for the movement of passengers and freight across the border. We must also maintain close and effective co-ordination with the Chinese authorities in the planning and implementation of cross-border land transport services.

Secretary for Transport

March 1996