THE traffic problem is actually a planning problem. The planning problem is actually the problem of some unthinking policymakers who sit on their chairs and wait until the next reshuffle.
Everybody knows where the most congested roads are. Most of us know why those roads are congested. Only those who sit on the policy-making bench don't.
When the Government started building housing estates in distant places in the New Territories, the housing problem was alleviated but the traffic problem was not recognised.
When more people were housed in the New Territories, there was a strong demand for transportation routes and means to get to where the jobs are. Unfortunately, the Government failed to decentralise the business districts.
No policies were provided to encourage businesses to move to the New Territories. In Sha Tin, for example, where hundreds of thousands of people now live, the only visible commercial blocks are the handful next to Sha Tin KCR station.
What makes matters worse is that the KCR only carries residents from the eastern New Territories as far as Hunghom, the middle of nowhere.
Those who work on the Island, where most business jobs are found, have to change at Kowloon Tong to the MTR or at the KCR terminus in Hunghom to tunnel buses.
