Assessing accessibility of public transport system in Hong Kong for persons with disabilities

Abstract

Taking public transport seems to be an easy task for many people, and because it is easy, many people have neglected the special travel needs of Persons with Disabilities (PWD). To create a “barrier-free” city, one should think from the perspectives of the PWD. This dissertation will illustrate different approaches to cater the travel needs of PWD and how the enhancement of public transport accessibility would contribute to the betterment of the society as a whole, and help us to achieve the goal of sustainable development. This is followed by the evaluation of the accessibility of public transport service provision in Hong Kong by fitting to the evaluation framework widely adopted in European Cities with advanced accessible public transport systems. The evaluation considers wide spectrum of aspects, ranging from the evaluation of government policies on provision of public transport services accessible by PWD to the evaluation over the sufficiency of travel information, stations or stops facilities as well as carriage facilities provided by franchised buses, the MTR and public light buses in Hong Kong. Franchised buses, the MTR and public light buses are the three major public transport modes in Hong Kong which has covered almost 90 percent of the total public transport trips in Hong Kong (TD, 2012). Among them, public light bus is the least accessible by PWD. In this study, modal choice preferences of PWD and factors that influence their preferences are also studied qualitatively. It is found that “accessibility” is the most important factor that influences the modal choice preferences of PWD. When PWD are asked to rank their modal choice preferences among the three public transport modes under studies, public light bus is the least popular option. Such finding has further supported the evaluation result that public light buses are the least accessible by PWD. Based on the evaluation and inputs from various stakeholders, recommendations are put forward in the last chapter. Among the recommended initiatives, the most important one is the establishment of a clear implementation framework over actions that should be done for enhancing the accessibility of public transport systems in Hong Kong through the formulation of an action plan. With the action plan, all the actions to enhance the accessibility of public transport services in Hong Kong can be carried out effectively, while actions can be done in a much comprehensive manner. By doing so, a “barrier-free” city can be truly created.