Opinion | Hong Kong's LPG taxis and minibuses need tighter safety controls
Albert Cheng says banning LPG vehicles from using non-approved garages for repairs will allow fearful residents to sleep at night
They are ubiquitous on the streets of Hong Kong. Yet, few people saw LPG taxis as ticking time bombs until a deadly explosion at a garage in Wong Tai Sin last Sunday.
A cab driver, the garage owner and the owner of a shop next door were killed in the blast on Wan Fung Street. The garage is on the ground floor of a residential building which houses 22 families. A nearby home for the elderly had to be evacuated. Windows were shattered, buildings shaken and vehicles badly damaged.
The driver had just taken in his car for minor repairs. An initial investigation by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department indicated that the vehicle's LPG tank remained intact. But authorities have not ruled out the possibility of an LPG leak from either the tank or a connecting tube.
A police source suggested that a passer-by who lit a cigarette outside the workshop might have triggered the series of explosions. The smoker was among the nine injured.
Taxis in Hong Kong run on LPG. A pilot scheme was introduced in 1996 to see whether LPG could replace the less environmentally friendly diesel and petroleum. It proved successful and, since 1999, all new taxis are required to have factory-built LPG tanks. The government offered a cash grant to each taxi owner who purchased a new LPG taxi to accelerate the change.
I had grave reservations about the switch at the time, on practical grounds. There were, and still are, inadequate services for the fleets of LPG-powered vehicles. There are only 67 LPG filling stations throughout the territory. Of them, just 12 are dedicated sites. That explains why there are often long queues at some more conveniently located LPG stations.