Electronic road pricing: An idea whose time may never come

Hong Kong's experiment with electronic road pricing showed that the technology was completely feasible. However, the government was unable to implement the scheme due to strong opposition from a public that perceived it as an invasion of privacy and a tax increase. This outcome was partly a result of forces unique to Hong Kong's political culture as well as both strategic and tactical errors made by the Hong Kong government in presenting its proposal. However, the Hong Kong experience also raises serious questions about whether a sophisticated road pricing scheme will ever be acceptable in a democratic urban polity.     

Road Safety Strategies: A Comparative Framework and Case Studies

Abstract

This paper proposes a nine‐component analytical framework for developing, comparing, and evaluating road safety strategies. The nine components are: (1) vision; (2) objectives; (3) targets; (4) action plan; (5) evaluation and monitoring; (6) research and development; (7) quantitative modelling; (8) institutional framework; and (9) funding. While the first four components are essential for the formulation of a road safety strategy, the remaining components are key to its successful implementation. To demonstrate the usefulness of this comparative framework, we examine the road safety strategies of six selected administrations: Australia, California, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and Sweden. In these case studies, we extract and highlight good practices in the formulation and implementation of their road safety strategies. The proposed framework also provides a systematic approach for assessing road safety strategies in other administrations. The evaluation of the six case studies forms a benchmarking platform for the planning, formulation, and implementation of good practices for road safety strategies.     

Electronic road pricing in Hong Kong

The paper describes the pilot-stage electronic road-pricing project undertaken in Hong Kong over the two year period from 1983 to 1985. After a discussion of the background to the project, the technology of the pilot system, which comprises of a fully functional subset of a potential full system, is described. The major transport study which has been undertaken as part of the project is outlined, and some of the results of the assessment of the effects of road pricing in Hong Kong are discussed. The paper describes the work on providing a demonstration accounting system and on defining the accounting and administrative requirements of a full system. The potential secondary benefits and uses of a road-pricing system, and of the technology, are also discussed. The paper concludes that the pilot-stage project in Hong Kong has been successful, and that electronic road pricing has been demonstrated as technically viable, administratively feasible and of significant potential benefit in helping to deal with Hong Kong's heavily congested urban road network.     

Road pricing: A solution for Hong Kong?

The Government of the Territory of Hong Kong is the first in the world to propose a system of charging motorists directly for the use of congested roads. Hong Kong has more registered motor vehicles per unit length of road than any other country and the road system is physically separate from China. Despite the scheme's technical proficiency and ability to earn revenue well in excess of operating costs, there is doubt about equity and efficiency. In the end, traffic conditions were not seen to be sufficiently bad so the scheme's introduction has been postponed.     

Transport in a high‐density urban environment: the experience of Hong Kong

In Hong Kong the high cost of land reclamation servicing has made it necessary to plan land use through zoning commercial and industrial activity and by adopting very high densities for residential accommodation. Traffic has concentrated along particular corridors where its volume now exceeds road capacity. The imperative development of an urban rail system has affected the economic stability of most public transport. Simultaneously, private motoring has increased so rapidly that fiscal restraints have been imposed, generating a serious proposal for electronic road pricing. The future growth of links with China will end Hong Kong's relative isolation and present new transport planning challenges.     

道路交通安全评价方法研究

随着道路运输的快速发展,我国的交通安全形势也不容乐观。为更好的确保人民出行安全,需在道路建设初期进行安全评价。本文利用德尔菲法进行两轮专家调查,建立了较为科学完善的道路安全评价指标体系;利用层次分析法合理确定各评价指标权重,从系统工程学角度建立了一套可量化、操作性强的道路安全评价机制。     

Optimization of tunnel tolls in land use and transport planning

The task of transport planning is to determine cost-effective methods of providing and improving mobility, which can include minimizing traffic congestion. A cost-effective solution to transport problems should consist of a land use pattern, a transport system an a set of road pricing policies that together bring demand and supply into balance in an efficient and equitable way. The conventional approach aimed to produce comprehensive, long-term plans for land use and transport in considerable detail, but tended to ignore the role of road pricing policy, thus ending up with solutions that might not be efficient or economical. This feature of sub-optimal road pricing policy is accentuated by the overall growth in car use, which has generated problems with the efficient use of road space. This paper presents a computer analysis system (or model) which will enable the analysis of coordinated tunnel toll pricing policies by optimising an “objective function” while satisfying the associated and other constraints. The possibility of integrating the optimal road pricing policies in the land use and transport planning are discussed. A case study based on Hong Kong data demonstrates the efficiency of optimizing tolls on two of the three harbour crossing tunnels in Hong Kong.     

Fuel demand,road transport pollution emissions and residents’ health losses in the transitional China

In recent years, China’s rapid economic growth resulted in serious air pollution, which caused substantial losses to economic development and residents’ health. In particular, the road transport sector has been blamed to be one of the major emitters. During the past decades, fluctuation in the international oil prices has imposed significant impacts on the China’s road transport sector. Therefore, inspired by Li and Zhou (2005), we propose an assumption that China’s provincial economies are independent “economic entities”. Based on this assumption, we investigate the China’s road transport fuel (i.e., gasoline and diesel) demand system by using the panel data of all 31 Chinese provinces except Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. To connect the fuel demand system and the air pollution emissions, we propose the concept of pollution emissions elasticities to estimate the air pollution emissions from the road transport sector, and residents’ health losses by a simplified approach consisting of air pollution concentrations and health loss assessment models under different scenarios based on real-world oil price fluctuations. Our framework, to the best of our knowledge, is the first attempt to address the transmission mechanism between the fuel demand system in road transport sector and residents’ health losses in the transitional China.     

Road safety: Research and reality 6th Reuben Smeed memorial lecture

Research has had a major influence in advancing road safety in Britain over more than 60 years. Lessons learnt in the early years provide a model for effective conduct of research of high quality to aid and influence practice and policy making. As the control of road safety research has become more widespread over the last decade and effort more diffused, problems have arisen which militate against the appropriateness and successful application of findings. Conflicts between researchers, practitioners and policy makers stem from lack of mutual understanding of their roles, the need to balance scientific rigour against the urgency of government and practice, and inadequate coherent communication.The potential for road casualty reduction in Britain has been addressed at intervals since the early 1960s. Assessment of the latest trends in casualties, set against current activities to achieve target reductions, shows the need for a further update to redefine priorities. For future advancement of road safety, a 20-point plan of activities is suggested. Technical, social, economic and institutional difficulties, of varying degrees, will need to be overcome to achieve the objectives of the plan. Most importantly, the academic and professional standing of road safety workers needs to be raised.     

Planning and Evaluation of Passenger Ferry Service in Hong Kong

A predominant observation in Hong Kong is the continuous loss in ferry patronage. There are two main reasons for this: poor level-of-service and better competitors. New roads, bridges, and tunnels are serving the buses, and to some extent the railways; whereas the investment in ferry terminals is relatively at a lower level. On the one hand, there is no need to promote the ferries in a free market environment; but on the other hand, the ferries have the best safety record, can only relieve some traffic congestion and need water access that is one of the characteristics of Hong Kong. The goal of this paper is to design a planning approach combined with an evaluation procedure on how to make the best use of the existing water and pier resources in Hong Kong through the provision of commercially viable ferry services. The approach used covers the impact of future developments planning up to 2006 comprising all public transport modes in Hong Kong (heavy rail, metro, bus, and ferry). The planning tool is based on a newly developed multi-objective evaluation method in order to assess the ferry routes with scientific, practical, and simplified analyses for future use. This assessment is applied to the existing ferry routes and candidate routes and can also be carried out on an individual route basis or on a given set of routes. The objective functions set forth analytically in the evaluation method take into account the interests of the three participants: the passengers, the operators and the government. The proposed ferry network design formulation and the suggested new ferry routes will have a positive impact on changing the ferry system’s image in Hong Kong.     

Some advances in model design developed for the practical assessment of road pricing in Hong Kong

The methods used in a study commissioned by the Hong Kong Government to assess the impacts of road pricing schemes in the territory are outlined. Three aspects of the methodology are described in more detail. First, a programme of social research is outlined, which assisted in the understanding of the likely responses to road pricing and hence guided the tasks of assessment framework design, policy option identification and model design. Next, one area of model development is described, involving the use of stated preference survey techniques to estimate a work trip time adjustment model. The final area highlighted involved the development of speed/flow relationships based on an area network concept.     

驾驶人安全意识体验式训练装置研究

通过对目前常用驾驶人安全意识培训方法的对比,认为体验式培训为最适合的培训方法;进一步对我国2007-2010年间大型道路交通事故特征进行分析,得出驾乘人员不系安全带是引起人员伤亡一大原因。通过设计研发碰撞、翻转两个体验式训练装置,使驾乘人员在保证安全的前提下真切感受道路交通事故发生瞬间安全带对人体的保护作用,有效提高驾驶人的安全意识,减少道路交通事故的发生及人员的伤亡。     

Comparison of results of two models of transportation demand in Hong Kong: CDAM and a version of microTRIPS

CDAM is a new computer program for solving the combined trip distribution and assignment model for multiple user classes, which enables transport planners to estimate consistent Origin-Destination (O-D) matrices and equilibrium traffic flows simultaneously if the trip production and attraction of each user class at zone centroids are available. This paper reports an application of CDAM to the central Kowloon study area in Hong Kong. The coefficients of the model related to the components of generalized costs are calibrated on 1986 travel data. A comparison of results of CDAM and a version of MicroTRIPS models of transportation demand in Hong Kong are presented. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and the advantage of the CDAM are discussed.     

Short‐term travel time forecasts for transport information system in hong kong

In this paper, a case study is carried out in Hong Kong for demonstration of the Transport Information System (TIS) prototype. A traffic flow simulator (TFS) is presented to forecast the short‐term travel times that can be served as a predicted travel time database for the TIS in Hong Kong. In the TFS, a stochastic deviation coefficient is incorporated to simulate the minute‐by‐minute fluctuation of traffic flows within the peak hour period. The purposes of the case study are: 1) to show the applicability of the TFS for larger‐scale road network; and 2) to illustrate the short‐term forecasting of path travel times in practice. The results of the case study show that the TFS can be applied to real network effectively. The predicted travel times are compared with the observed travel times on the selected paths for an OD pair. The results show that the observed path travel times fall in the 90% confidence interval of the predicted path travel times.     

Container Terminal Development in Mainland China and Its Impact on the Competitiveness of the Port of Hong Kong

In recent years, China's container ports have experienced a significant expansion in throughput and capacity. This paper provides a review of the sector and analyses the recent development of container ports and terminals within Mainland China. It then focuses in more depth on the competition between the ports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In particular, the port of Shenzhen is analysed in the context of Robinson's criteria for hub port development to try to discern whether it will become the dominant regional hub. The discussion concludes that despite Shenzhen's current competitive advantages, Hong Kong will, in all probability, retain its dominant role.     

Bus routing strategies in a transit market: A case study of Hong Kong

Conventionally, the objective of transit routing is often set either to minimize the total operational cost, subject to a given level of service quality, or to maximize the service quality at a given acceptable cost. In a deregulated, commercial‐based environment however, such as bus and railway operations in cities of the UK and Hong Kong where several private firms compete in route‐based or area‐based market, routing becomes one of the means for higher returns rather than just for cost saving. In such a case, how do the transit providers set up their routes for profit‐maximization? Will the routing based on the provider's objective meet the user's objective? How do government regulations and policies affect the choice of transit provider's routing strategy? To answer these questions, we first examine the relationship between the objectives of users and transit providers, set up criteria for transit routing quality, and then investigate the possible routing configurations/patterns for a hypothetical case. These criteria include (1) the load factor of transit, (2) the level of route directness, (3) the level of route overlapping, and (4) the total number of routes and (5) the average of route length. These measures are finally applied to a real case in Hong Kong to examine the route changes of Kowloon Motor Bus from 1975 to 1995. The result of the empirical case reveais how key measures such as load factor are controlled by the bus operator and affected by government policies and how the bus routing pattern was adjusted to meet users' need. Facing the dilemma as evident in Hong Kong between the route directness and the efficiency of road use, we suggest that a rational multi‐modal routing structure be put in place if an institutional solution is introduced so that bus and other transit modes can form a sharing program or an alliance.     

Planning and control of paratransit services in Hong Kong

As paratransit services, Hong Kong's taxis and public light buses (PLB) carried some 30% of the 9.7 million daily public transport boardings in Hong Kong in 1988. Most of the vehicles are individually owned, and services are operated as commercially viable concerns. While operators have a high degree of operational flexibility, taxis and PLBs are closely regulated by the Government. The fleet sizes are controlled by licensing. There is a system of zoning for taxis, and operational prohibitions and restrictions for PLBs. Over the years, Hong Kong has developed some practicable means of operational control on taxis and PLBs. It has been 20 years since PLBs were legalized in 1969. The transition experienced by this mode, from no control to regulated operations, signifies a major step forward from the point of view of transport administration. The Government's participation in the planning for PLB services has guided the development of this mode. In this paper, the planning and control mechanisms for Hong Kong's paratransit modes are introduced. Identified deficiencies are also discussed.     

Benchmarking road safety performance by grouping local territories: A study in the Netherlands

The method of benchmarking provides an opportunity to learn from better performing territories to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of activities in a particular field of interest. Such a field of interest could be road safety. Road safety benchmarking can include several indicators, ranging from performance indicated by crash statistics, to indicators that also account for consequences in costs or the underlying state of the road safety system and relevant organisation and processes at actor level. The structure and culture of a territory is identified as a basic context of road safety performance. This is regarded as important information to use in grouping of territories to get more homogenous or equal and comparable conditions to learn from ‘the best in class’.The main aim of this study is to assess the usability of different groupings using the physical structure for benchmarking road safety performance at local territorial level. A traditional grouping of municipalities in the Netherlands was compared with a simple grouping of these municipalities based on their level of urbanisation and an advanced grouping in which more indicators such as differences in demography, growth and road structure were taken into account. As in other studies, urbanisation showed to be the most predominant structural factor for grouping local territories and related to differences in road safety performance. However, if information would be needed for specific target groups, other factors like age and gender distribution or the distribution of the road network can provide valuable additional insight and better homogenous starting points for benchmarking. Especially benchmarking of rural territories may profit from such extra distinctive characteristics.     

Attitudes of Hong Kong residents to cars and public transport: Some policy implications

Hong Kong currently has low levels of car ownership and use due to a combination of good public transport, high population densities and high private transport costs. However, levels are rising, contributing to congestion and environmental problems. A major response by the government is to seek to increase rail's share of public transport journeys from its current level of 33% to 45% by 2016. After reviewing the transport situation in Hong Kong, the paper discusses the appropriateness of these targets as well as questioning whether they are achievable. The results of a questionnaire survey of 595 residents of Hong Kong, designed to elicit people's attitudes to cars and public transport, are analysed. It is concluded that unless the government does more to curb car ownership and use, rail targets will have little chance of being achieved.     

Exposure of urban populations to road traffic noise in Hong Kong

This article examines the exposure of Hong Kong’s population to road traffic noise and whether there is class-biased inequality in this. The socio-economic characteristics of residents of public and private building are taken from census data and the noise exposure levels from 3-D noise mapping. Using decile plots and binary logistic regression analysis, we find that in general the socially deprived groups tend to live in building groups exposed to higher noise levels. This is particularly pronounced in private housing estates where older, less educated, those engaged in craftsman and elementary jobs, and non-owners of their dwellings are exposing to higher levels of traffic noise. Inequality is less conspicuous in public housing estates.