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MTR queue during rush hours

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  1. #51

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    During rush hour it never looks like this. Ever. Both moving walkways are full, the walkway coming from Tung Chung to Island line is even more crowded, and the space in the middle is also completely full of people. You can walk but you cannot walk very quickly. Also not sure if people can tell in the picture but it's an upwards incline here from TC to Island, so people slow down their pace even more.

    It's not unbearable, it's not impossible to traverse, but I find it unpleasant and very full of people during peak times. I would rather take a bus or walk outside than do this twice a day. Personal preference of course.
    emilyxyz and Mat like this.

  2. #52

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    Quote Originally Posted by emilyxyz:
    that's disappointing to hear I thought Hong Kong is all about fast paced and efficiency.
    my own country is probably worse :sly:
    the HK train system is very efficient at moving a lot of people very fast. what people are describing is efficient- an entire platform full of people emptied in 10-12 minutes with train after train. of course, those people are then replaced by new arrivals.
    it's around as efficient as you get, but don't think that it's calm.
    incidentally, there's an odd thing here - the train lines are pretty hectic. people don't cut that much, but they do cut some and you have to kind of defend your spot, people enter the trains before exiters are finished exiting, etc. it's not as bad as the youtube stuff i've seen from beijing, though i suspect that those are the worst of beijing....
    but - and this is what's odd - people here are total sticklers for the bus queue. no one cuts, it's orderly and calm. there's even at times a secondary line for people who don't want to go back to the back of the main line (kinda like if they'd walked in from the wrong end of the hallway), and i've never seen them try to rush on before the main line had completely boarded.
    buses are a legit option here.

  3. #53

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw:
    it's not as bad as the youtube stuff i've seen from beijing, though i suspect that those are the worst of beijing....
    .
    Yup, like I said, isolated incidents aside, the MTR is nowhere near as bad as the Mainland subways. And I don't think its even as crowded as the Tokyo subway.
    Last edited by Cho-man; 09-03-2015 at 09:46 AM.

  4. #54

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    The ferries are reliable, and then there's nothing to stress out about once you're on them.

    except drowning in a disastrous ferry crash, of course.
    not that this is a regular occurrence. just one of my random phobias. but you'd never get me to live on an island that relied on ferry service.

    i actually don't even like the rush hour cross-harbour trains for this very reason. i'm going to die some way. i accept that. i just don't want it to involve water.

    and fwiw - i've taken a fair number of non-rush-hour cross harbour trains, and they're usually not particularly crowded. red line and tung chung line. crowdedness of the HK to Central walk is pretty random - some sundays it's not worth queuing up for the conveyor belt, some it's easy to walk on it. i won't say that i like that change but for whatever reason - the lighting, the high ceilings - it's more pleasant than your average long transfer. it's certainly more pleasant than the change at kowloon tong, for instance.

  5. #55

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    Ferries all well and good until black rain and typhoon season

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  6. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by emilyxyz:
    hahaha .. tried but old habit die hard. am the typical impatient person that would smacks keyboard or CPU, press the remote many times, have road rage while driving, grunts when the train doesn't come on time, long queue, people cut Q, slow/lagging smartphone and etc. XD

    the only solution that works is avoid the triggers
    To be honest, getting on the mtr at Jordan is not too bad at 8.30am, if you are willing to walk to end carriages, the bottleneck is more TST to Admiralty ( sometimes as much as waiting of the 3rd-4th train).

    If you are lazy and try to get on the mtr near the nearest point from the escalators, then the chances that most of the congestion lies at that point

  7. #57

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    Quote Originally Posted by emilyxyz:
    hahaha .. tried but old habit die hard. am the typical impatient person that would smacks keyboard or CPU, press the remote many times, have road rage while driving, grunts when the train doesn't come on time, long queue, people cut Q, slow/lagging smartphone and etc. XD

    the only solution that works is avoid the triggers
    Get into something on your phone. I play games or surf geo. But you can also try learning a language, reading a book. Anything engrossing. That way spending time on trains or buses passes really fast. Not suggestions for the interchanges - I put my phone away and focus on moving fast. I wish few more people would!
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  8. #58

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw:
    the HK train system is very efficient at moving a lot of people very fast. what people are describing is efficient- an entire platform full of people emptied in 10-12 minutes with train after train. of course, those people are then replaced by new arrivals.
    it's around as efficient as you get, but don't think that it's calm.
    incidentally, there's an odd thing here - the train lines are pretty hectic. people don't cut that much, but they do cut some and you have to kind of defend your spot, people enter the trains before exiters are finished exiting, etc. it's not as bad as the youtube stuff i've seen from beijing, though i suspect that those are the worst of beijing....
    but - and this is what's odd - people here are total sticklers for the bus queue. no one cuts, it's orderly and calm. there's even at times a secondary line for people who don't want to go back to the back of the main line (kinda like if they'd walked in from the wrong end of the hallway), and i've never seen them try to rush on before the main line had completely boarded.
    buses are a legit option here.
    +1 on the bus vs train queuing observations. See that too myself.
    East_coast likes this.

  9. #59

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cho-man:
    Compared to the British government of course the HK government would appear efficient, need I remind you of the UK passport renewal fiasco? Fine example of your British bureaucracy, hehehe.

    But the HK government is inefficient in many other ways.
    The Government is extremely efficient if you have a standard problem or standard query or are doing anything normal. Step outside the box and ask for something else (even if very sensible) and you hit a brick wall. But for 95% of stuff, very efficient.
    Cho-man likes this.

  10. #60

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    Quote Originally Posted by emilyxyz:
    buses would be less reliable in terms of punctuality right?
    Not necessarily. It depends. For me, living near Tuen Mun, (which does have an MTR station), buses are faster and just as reliable, because they use a freeway pretty much all the way to Central and use the (expensive) uncongested tunnel. But there are sometimes queues on the freeway, yes. But on the other hand, on the inbound direction there is a bus-ony lane during peak hour, so even if the cars are stationary, the buses are moving. I've had the odd bad experience, perhaps once every other month, but on the whole it's fine and MUCH more comfortable than the MTR (rarely standing on the bus).

    On the other hand, if you are talking about going from, say, Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town across the top of the island, buses would be much slower than the MTR. And crowded. So - it all depends.

    You mentioned Tung Chung. There are many buses that go through Tung Chung (the airport buses). I use the ones direct to the airport, but there are others (E-xxx) that go via Tung Chung, then on the freeway all the way. They go every 8-12 minutes depending on the route. Worth exploring and deciding if you prefer the experience or not. I do - i like to sit upstairs on the double decker and look at the view. Especially at sunset on the way home. But you may hate the experience and prefer the MTR - different people like different things.
    Cho-man and TheBrit like this.

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