Opinion | E-toll fiasco is one more black mark for Hong Kong’s Transport Department

The hasty announcement and last-minute scramble to postpone the electronic toll payment system was just one of several recent bungles

The lack of planning and problem-solving skills on display does not inspire confidence, and neither does the weak attempt at excusing the postponement

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Vehicles cross the Kowloon side entrance of the Eastern Harbour Crossing on December 12, 2022. The government’s plan to roll out electronic toll tags to drivers has been postponed to May over concerns about an adequate supply and distribution of tags. Photo: Elson Li

Published: 8:15am, 20 Feb 2023

The government’s postponement of the launch of the electronic toll payment system is beyond embarrassing. It raises so many red flags that we must wonder whether the incompetence that has plagued the Transport Department is now commonplace.

It really was a collection of fiascos that should not have happened in the first place. Apologies don’t come easy to most officials, so it’s saying a lot to have Transport Commissioner Rosanna Law Shuk-pui eating humble pie on a radio programme, saying: “I wish to apologise to car owners whose toll tag did not arrive on time.”

Of the 240,000 vehicle owners who had applied for the e-toll tag as part of the vehicle renewal registration last year, 16,000 applications were not processed because of “system inconsistencies” between the Transport Department and the contractor. As of February 13, only about 430,000 tags – for some 800,000 registered vehicles – had been issued.

Glitches are part of everyday life; we update our apps to fix bugs and make improvements. Carrying out tests and ironing out kinks takes time, and so it is unreasonable for the government to require all vehicle owners to apply for the e-toll tag within a few weeks.

The government only announced on January 6 that the new system would be used – albeit only on the Tsing Sha Highway connecting Tsing Yi and Sha Tin – by the end of February. Never mind, of course, that this is the same department that was blasted last year for a ridiculous 294-day average waiting time for a driving test.

Blind faith – and in this case, the failure to accurately assess the department’s capability and track record – has no place in the execution of public policies and services. It brings the government into disrepute.