Disco Bay split on taxi plan amid conflicting poll results
A proposal to allow taxis into Discovery Bay has sparked arguments on two fronts. Whether increased traffic and visitors would ruin the secluded community is one. The other is whether opponents or advocates of the proposal speak for the residents, after two surveys claiming to represent a big majority of public opinion have given opposite results.
Hong Kong Resort Co, which owns the Discovery Bay development, submitted the proposal to the Transport Department at the end of last year. It would allow taxis to pick up and drop off at the transport interchange beside North Plaza but would not allow them to enter the rest of the 650-hectare development. Residents would have to take a shuttle bus, golf cart or hire car to the taxi stand.
At present vehicles without permits cannot enter Discovery Bay, including private cars. Shuttle buses run to Tung Chung and Sunny Bay for HK$9.10 and to the airport for HK$32. A ferry goes to Central for HK$31 during the day and evening and HK$44 from midnight to 6am.
Hong Kong Resort Co says the proposal is a response to residents' requests. It says that after residents asked it why there was no taxi service, it carried out a survey last September and found more than 70 per cent of the 2,477 residents and owners who responded supported taxi access.
However, a survey carried out by Islands district councillor Amy Yung Wing-sheung found the exact opposite. Of 582 respondents, 70 per cent were against the entry of taxis. Some 86 per cent feared security risks, 88 per cent increased noise and 91 per cent increased air pollution. Yung intends to submit the results of the survey to the Transport Department while it considers the proposal.
According to Yung, Hong Kong Resort Co had a high response rate because, unlike her, it polled not only residents but the owners of Discovery Bay property - which in many cases is Hong Kong Resort Co. She suspects owners responded in disproportionately high numbers. Yung delivered 8,058 questionnaires - one to every home. The company sent out 12,268.
'The residents know [the taxi proposal] won't benefit them,' Yung said. 'Most people in Discovery Bay know it's the developer's gimmick.'
She said that while the developer argued the proposal would benefit the pregnant, disabled and elderly if they needed to get to hospital quickly, in fact it wanted to shuttle more people to the site for additional revenue. This would, for example, benefit a hotel adjacent to the proposed taxi stand owned by the developer and which has been unused for years.
A respondent to Yung's survey said: 'Our family moved to DB to escape the bustling HK side. If DB is going to look like any other HK district over the next 15 or 20 years, we will regret having moved.'
Yung said a dedicated non-profit minibus service for the disabled, sick and elderly should be introduced - a proposal supported by seven out of 10 respondents to her survey.
Yet doubts have been raised over the validity of Yung's survey. Yvonne Fitzsimmons, a Discovery Bay resident for seven years, plans to submit a petition with more than 300 residents' signatures to the Transport Department next week.
She says Yung's survey was a 'push poll' designed to get the responses she wanted. One question in it asked: 'What is your view on the impact on road safety in DB if the proposal is approved?' The answers available for respondents to choose were: 'Road safety will be adversely affected'; 'Traffic flow in DB will increase significantly'; and 'Road safety will be difficult to manage'.
'It was a poll designed to say 'no we don't want taxis'. There was no option to say 'yes we do',' Fitzsimmons, a retiree who regularly visits Queen Mary Hospital, said.
Regarding a hospital shuttle, Fitzsimmons said: 'It's an aid but it's not the full solution.' Her previous experiences taking the Rehabus took two hours and required her to book her seat more than six weeks in advance.
Other residents have a different view. Judy Lee and her family arrived in 1987. 'It's a quiet place. We want to have a better environment and air. That's why I moved to DB and I am willing to pay a little more.'
This is not the first time taxi access has been sought. In 2004 a request was denied by the department. A survey by Yung at the time showed 65 per cent of residents objected to the proposal. The department is considering the latest proposal, which also seeks the entry of coaches. 'The comments from the concerned parties will be examined,' a spokesman said.
