Second stage of Hong Kong time-varying tolls set to take effect will ease congestion at 2 cross-harbour tunnels by up to 1km, authorities say
- From Sunday, cars at two busy tunnels during peak hours will be charged incrementally until reaching maximum rate of HK$40
- ‘Our main target is not to make the queues completely vanish, but rather to try and put them at an acceptable level,’ official says
Traffic queues at two major cross-harbour tunnels in Hong Kong are expected to shrink by up to 1km after the further increase of tolls during peak hours starting on Sunday, transport authorities have said.
The Transport Department on Wednesday said the second stage of time-varying tolls for the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Eastern Harbour Tunnel and Western Harbour Tunnel would come into effect from 5am on Sunday, with private car drivers and motorcyclists paying charges at different rates depending on the time of the day.
The new toll calculation was part of the department’s efforts to ease overall traffic congestion during the morning and evening rush hours, alongside implementing the HKeToll electronic payment system that was launched earlier this year to save time for drivers.
“Our main target is not to make the queues completely vanish, but rather to try and put them at an acceptable level,” said Leung Sai-ho, assistant commissioner at the department.
Phase one of the adjustment took effect on August 2, when tolls were lowered at the Western crossing and raised at the two busier tunnels.
Leung said the goal of the revamped tolls was to minimise the impact of the traffic jams at the tunnels, as long queues sometimes affected vehicles which were not crossing the harbour.
Commissioner for Transport Angela Lee Chung-yan estimated traffic queues at the Eastern tunnel would be shortened by 0.5km, and 1km at the Cross-Harbour Tunnel following the implementation of the revamped tolls.