Three steps to tackle Hong Kong’s traffic chaos, and avoid pointless consultations on tunnel tolls
Mike Rowse says another consultation exercise on tolls for cross-harbour tunnels is quite unnecessary when we could move to introduce limits on private car numbers, licence only electric vehicles in future, and allow ride-hailing apps
I wonder whether Hong Kong’s Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan is having what we call a “senior moment”, where one repeats something that has already been done a second or even third time.
I refer to the new consultation exercise on whether tolls for the three cross-harbour tunnels should be adjusted to even out traffic flow. The tolls for private cars at the Western Harbour, Cross-Harbour and Eastern Harbour tunnels are HK$65, HK$20 and HK$25 respectively, with a similar disparity for other vehicles. The first has spare capacity, while the second and third are very congested, particularly at peak periods.
In theory, there is a perfectly good argument for leaving things as they are so motorists have a choice of the service level they are prepared to pay for. Those who loathe to waste time queuing and have the means will choose the Western crossing, while the more frugal will sacrifice time to save money by using one of the other two. However, the spillover effect on traffic using roads adjacent to the most congested tunnels is now so severe that there is a case for intervention.
