I WELCOMED C. K. Lau's article headlined, 'Don't drive middle class off the road' (South China Morning Post, November 29). The main cause of traffic problems is not the large number of vehicles on roads, but the poor network of roads. Look at Tuen Mun. After Central, the area where most Tuen Mun residents work is Kowloon. The only way they can get to Kowloon is by travelling along Tuen Mun Road. Because of the congestion, people leave home earlier than they normally would. When other people are enjoying their breakfast, Tuen Mun residents are stuck in traffic. This could be avoided by building a rail line to Tuen Mun. However, Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma argues that the best way to relieve traffic congestion is to reduce the number of vehicles that are on our roads and he believes that the best way of doing this is by introducing an electronic road pricing scheme. I do not believe that the electronic road pricing scheme is efficient. Just look at Dongguan in Guangdong province, which has a similar scheme. Each driver must pay in cash, everytime he wants to use the highway. For example, a motorcyclist pays $2. Drivers of private cars have to pay $3. The larger the vehicle, the higher the fee. This system operates in many parts of the mainland. However, traffic jams in Dongguan are frequent, because there are few roads connecting nearby towns and few branch roads. If there is an accident, the highway is shut and vehicles are trapped. The Hong Kong Government will benefit financially from electronic road pricing, but it will not solve the problem of traffic jams. That will only be solved by building more roads. LAU HOK-YEUNG New Territories
