Sai Kung and Clear Water Bay residents will enjoy half-price parking when the new Choi Hung MTR station's car park goes into service on Saturday.
The $188.3 million parking facility, which took more than two decades to come to fruition, will charge $6 per hour for drivers who use the MTR, rather than the standard $12.
Thomas Ho Hang-kong, property director of MTR Corp, said he expected more private car owners from Sai Kung, Choi Hung and Clear Water Bay to switch to the MTR after the car park opens, but he expects the boost to passenger flow will be minimal.
'Our parking lot offers 450 spaces. Even with 10 rounds of customers it comprises only 10 per cent of Choi Hung station's daily passenger turnover of 40,000,' he said.
MTR Corp has five other park-and-ride car parks which offer a total of 1,595 parking spaces. They are at the Hong Kong, Kowloon, Tsing Yi and Olympian City stations along the Tung Chung Line and the East Point City station in Hang Hau. Choi Hung is the first on the Kwun Tong line.
'We do hope to build more car parks in the city but land availability poses a big hindrance,' Mr Ho said. 'We had proposed to the government about this plan as early as the 1980s, but procedural matters and busy traffic meant it took us more than 20 years before the project eventually materialised.'
The next target is Tsuen Kwan O, he said.
