A study on the development potential of bus rapid transit and modern tramways in Hong Kong

Abstract

The cornerstone of the public transport policy of Hong Kong has been to position railway as the backbone of the transport network. With the adoption of an integrated approach of land-use planning and railway planning, there has been a remarkable achievement that railway now accounts for 41% of all trips made on public transport. Upon completion of the four railway projects by 2020, it will cover 70% of residential population of Hong Kong.

Further on, there are anticipated challenges associated with the increasingly-congested roads and trains in urban areas, and the transport planning to serve New Developments Areas (NDAs) for accommodating future population growth. Noted that constructing railway lines or strategic highways to relieve existing congestion is costly, technically difficult and requiring long implementation, and the NDAs with a relatively low density may not warrant the provision of a heavy railway, there exists a need to explore new solutions to address these issues.

This research attempts to study the characteristics of two novel modes of transport – Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Modern Tramways, in order to investigate whether they are necessary and viable to be introduced in Hong Kong. The research summarizes the applications of BRT and Modern Tramways with respect to their characteristics and pre-requisites. In parallel, it briefly describes the transport and land-use related policies, and reviews the current traffic conditions and problems associated with the operation of bus and tram in Hong Kong.

The analysis part assesses the development potential of BRT or Modern Tramways from two perspectives: namely the possibilities to be implemented in NDAs and to modify the existing bus and tram services to BRT and Modern Tramways respectively. While the conclusion confirms the necessity and viability, and therefore the development potential of BRT and Modern Tramways, there are some pre-requisites highlighted for them to be successfully implemented in Hong Kong.