Cross Harbour Tunnel

[TheDevil_666]

In my view HK should go on SGs route, owning your own vehicle should in every way be very expensive, sharing vehicles bus/taxi etc should be promoted. We need less not more cars in the city.

I'd agree with this if they would first handle housing the way Singapore does and if they can provide a quality of life that Singapore does.

[shree711]

The number of cars have shot up in Hong Kong. Owning a car should not be restricted but it should be discouraged just like the present system does. What the government can do is increase First Registration Tax on cheaper vehicles to levels that they have for more expensive vehicles (132% tax). Another thing the government can do is increase the FRT exemption on electric vehicles so that old car owners will be incentivised to crush their old cars and switch to electric cars thereby keeping the number of cars constant and reducing street level noise and pollution.

With regards to tolls, the cross harbour tolls should all be the same price (maybe $40 a trip for private cars) so that toll shopping stops and people take whatever the fastest route is (in terms of distance/traffic). You can set different toll pricing for cars, taxis, trucks and buses to make the pricing more unattractive or attractive based on the mode of transport.

To improve traffic flow, toll booths should be abolished and fully electronic toll collection should be implemented. HKers are fairly diligent when it comes to paying their bills and I would imagine that car owners would be better at paying bills than the public at large, so the government should send car owners a monthly bill for all their toll usage with stiff penalties and potential fines/action if the tolls are unpaid.

[RobRoy]

I'd agree with this if they would first handle housing the way Singapore does and if they can provide a quality of life that Singapore does.

Would be great if they did that but the decisions are not linked, you can improve one and ignore the other. Still better than nothing.

[Cornmeal]

Any bridge that can manage for months down to 50% capacity due to drunken Russian skipper is not 'that' busy.

Yes, imagine a place where infrastructure was built for more than current capacity as opposed to being built for a static population that doesn't exist and isn't upgraded for decades.

You're being very disingenuous, or trolling, in your responses. My points are about ownership costs and relative value/design of infrastructure. And let's not forget HK also has the higest fuel costs in the world 33% of which is tax. A further 15% cost due to lack of cheaper octane alternatives.

https://kwiksure.com/blog/hong-kong-...-price-factor/

MTR is great if you love being cramped in a train built for hobbits, and only if you live near one, and just need to go to places near an MTR, otherwise you're wasting lots of time waiting, sweating, and transferring.

But yes this thoughtless, piecemeal approach of increasing 1 tunnel fee will have tremendous results! At least it keeps people in a skilless job that could be done by a machine invented a century ago.

BTW the Sydney bridge toll remained and increased to finance their tunnel:

https://collection.maas.museum/object/389982

[East_coast]

Yes, imagine a place where infrastructure was built for more than current capacity as opposed to being built for a static population that doesn't exist and isn't upgraded for decades.

You're being very disingenuous, or trolling, in your responses. My points are about ownership costs and relative value/design of infrastructure. And let's not forget HK also has the higest fuel costs in the world 33% of which is tax. A further 15% cost due to lack of cheaper octane alternatives.

https://kwiksure.com/blog/hong-kong-...-price-factor/

MTR is great if you love being cramped in a train built for hobbits, and only if you live near one, and just need to go to places near an MTR, otherwise you're wasting lots of time waiting, sweating, and transferring.

But yes this thoughtless, piecemeal approach of increasing 1 tunnel fee will have tremendous results! At least it keeps people in a skilless job that could be done by a machine invented a century ago.

BTW the Sydney bridge toll remained and increased to finance their tunnel:

https://collection.maas.museum/object/389982

I was comparing HK land cost with HK land costs while I believe you were comparing HK land costs with a regional city in Korea. I don't believe an activity on usable land should be heavily subsidized because it is cheaper elsewhere in the world.

[Cornmeal]

I was comparing HK land cost with HK land costs while I believe you were comparing HK land costs with a regional city in Korea. I don't believe an activity on usable land should be heavily subsidized because it is cheaper elsewhere in the world.

OK, scarecrow.

[East_coast]

OK, scarecrow.

You drew a comparison with a non congested regional city non urban bridge in South Korea while I drew a comparison to New York's Hudson ricer crossing that are in the heart of the city and suffer from congestion where land and time are significantly more valuable.

Congestion is expensive and a waste of finite resources. Interestingly the Hudson River crossings will go fully variable tolls this month.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-de...-of-congestion

But no you could be right economic issues around high demand for infrastructure is a false argument and cities such as Singapore, London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, Stockholm, Madrid all have it wrong and they should base their fee structure for reducing significant demand on limited high expense resources on the ample resources of a lowish expense bridge outside a regional city in South Korea.

[MatthieuTofu]

Hmm yeah I wonder how the arrangement is going to work for Autotoll. I guess the gov will just pay them. But the gov announced over a year ago they'd implement free autotoll under a different name of their own. If you renew your vehicle license, they actually have a checkbox to put you into the program while you are at it. I did it in January, and I'm still to hear from them at all...

Odd, the TKO-LT tunnel that is opening soon only has free-flow tolling iirc.

No toll exemption for franchises buses if i'm not mistaken (contrary to 2018), a shame as tunnel bus fares (especially WHC) are high because of that.

[timonoj]

Hmm yeah I wonder how the arrangement is going to work for Autotoll. I guess the gov will just pay them. But the gov announced over a year ago they'd implement free autotoll under a different name of their own. If you renew your vehicle license, they actually have a checkbox to put you into the program while you are at it. I did it in January, and I'm still to hear from them at all...

Well so it turns out I wrote them over a month ago, and just got a reply from them!

Dear timonoj,

Thank you for your email on the Free-Flow Tolling System (FFTS) project. Our replies are as follows:-

Free-Flow Tolling System is now renamed as HKeToll. The Transport Department ("TD") is working closely on the preparation works of HKeToll. HKeToll will be gradually implemented at all government tolled tunnels and Tsing Sha Control Area.

TD is going to have a series of promotional activities on the HKeToll service. The HKeToll website, mobile app and customer service centres will be launched in the nearer future to facilitate the public to apply for vehicle tags and sign up the accounts. TD targets to send the vehicle tag to the applicants soon. Details will be announced in due course.


Smart Mobility Division
Technical Services Branch
Transport Department

[East_coast]

New road to bring more congestion at peak times

The Transport Department on Friday appealed to motorists to drive safely at a new toll-free tunnel that connects Tseung Kwan O and Lam Tin, saying heavy traffic is expected when it opens.



https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compone...abChangeable=0