Comparison and review on bus priority schemes between Hong Kong, Singapore and London

Abstract

In Hong Kong, franchised buses carry more than 3.9 million passengers daily, ranking at the second highest daily patronage after MTR of 4.8 million. The current public transport policy in Hong Kong encourages the use of railway as the backbone of the public transport system to mitigate congestion and roadside pollution, whilst franchised buses perform as auxiliary and feeder public transport function. With this shift in emphasis, direct measures to assist bus companies in the form of comprehensive bus priority system are lacking.

Unlike Hong Kong, the transport authorities in Singapore and London have proactively put in more efforts and resources in optimizing their bus priority schemes in recent years, through setting up the bus-only lanes at congested road sections and implementing traffic signal synchronization integrated with GPS-based system for bus-through traffic, which aim at enhancing service reliability of buses and further promoting the modal shift from private transport to public transport.

Though Hong Kong, Singapore and London are well-known metropolitan cities sharing similar compact urban population densities with comprehensive public transport networks, yet they have distinct characteristics and varieties towards the implementation of bus priority schemes. As these cities are also competing for investment, quality living and green development, it is of interest to review the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of current public transport policy in Hong Kong in terms of encouraging the use of economic carriers for better use of road space, as well as to review the role of franchised buses performed in the public transport scene. Meanwhile, it is necessary to examine and compare different types of bus priority schemes implemented between Hong Kong, Singapore and London, in order to provide feasible recommendations on further optimizing and enhancing bus priority scheme in Hong Kong with reference to overseas experience.