Tired of waiting 10 minutes for a tram, only for three of them to turn up at once? Hong Kong Tramways thinks it has a solution.
The network has entered the digital age with the installation of a real-time monitoring system to keep track of its 161 trams. As well as providing information to passengers on when they can expect their tram to arrive, tramway bosses say the system allows them to manage movements more efficiently.
About 600 electronic tags have been buried along the track to sense radio frequencies from antennae in the trams as they enter and leave each stop. That information is fed back to the tram control centre, where staff can monitor the progress of trams on an animated map.
When several trams become bunched together, they will be able to make adjustments. For example, if a tram is delayed, the one in front might stay longer at the next stop to allow more passengers to board, relieving the load on the delayed tram and allowing it to make faster progress.
Alternatively, large gaps could be plugged by ordering another tram from the depots at Whitty Street and Sai Wan Ho.
'Sometimes a tram will have to be held up,' said David Wong Choi-kau, the tramway's operations manager. 'But this is to speed up the whole system and reduce waiting time for passengers.'