Stairs required at 30% of MTR exits
and Hong Kong's first congestion pricing scheme lumbers into life
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Stair walk required at almost a third of MTR exits
New data seen yesterday showed 30% of MTR exits are either only accessible by stairs up and down, or had just one escalator, meaning passengers going down must use the stairs.
A question from lawmaker Yang Wing-kit in LegCo revealed the paucity of accessible entrances overall and at certain stations: Kwun Tong, for example, has 10 (out of 12) exits only accessible by staircase while Mong Kok has 14 exits out of 15 served only by a single escalator set to the prevailing pedestrian flow (usually up). If you have trouble with stairs the ONLY way into Mong Kok station is through Exit C3 Langham Place (or the horrendously slow "stair lift", which will set you back about half an hour including waiting time, plus the indignity of sitting on the thing with the siren and flashing alarm as it inches its way up the wall).
Even relatively new stations such as To Kwa Wan and Sung Wong Toi have exits only served by single escalators. Why are they building brand new stations with such inaccessible design (and no bike parking etc). Lawmaker Yang claimed many people who lived in To Kwa Wan had never used the station, as its exits were so far from passengers' destination.
In response, the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Lam Sai-hung said every MTR station was equipped with at least one barrier-free access between concourse and ground level.
"At least one" is not good enough for the people relying on it, and the lengthy queues for lifts prove this daily. The passenger lifts, if they exist, are far from where you need to be, very slow and very crowded.
I use a stroller (for my 22-month-old boy) every day and I'm fine to use the escalators safely. But staff aggressively insist we use the lifts. I've had yellow-shirted staff literally chasing us and grabbing me or the stroller at the top of an escalator trying to stop us going down. They often (like 4 times a week) jump in front of us at the platform escalators at Kowloon Tong (causing a major flow commotion which everyone then blames on the guy with the stroller.....).
If they're going to make us use the lift then please improve the lifts! MTR says it has designed "priority" lanes for people who must use the lifts but that's complete BS. Try using the priority lane: not only will you be eye-lynched (or worse, sworn at or even jostled) by the 40 other people in the queue, but it's also very unfair. Since nobody respects the "priority" lane, who am I to judge who actually needs to use the lift and who I could legitimately jump past1?
Someone wise once told me the whole purpose of the MTR was to get the drones to work, and hence no need to even think about access for those not fit enough to be able to swing a jackhammer. I don't know if that's true anymore – but with access so poor, MTR could do well to leave people alone if they're happy enough making their own way, and concentrate on genuine priorities for more vulnerable passengers.
Prediction: 100% of taxis will shift to Western Harbour Tunnel on toll shift
Sources say Hong Kong’s first “congestion charge” project, the tunnel toll alignment, is getting real: the Western Harbour Tunnel private car toll will be cut from $75 to $60, the congested Cross-Harbour Tunnel raised from $20 to $30. But interestingly, taxis will likely have their toll equalised to $25 for both tunnels, a massive incentive for passengers and drivers to take the faster western tunnel for most central/western Kowloon trips (and a sneaky tax on Uber, but that's another story).
Passengers will likely prefer the Western route, as the three-lane tunnel is significantly faster and less aggravating than sitting in traffic with a grumpy taxi driver; drivers won't complain as it's a longer distance and more fuel-efficient than the 20-minute crawl into the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
For both tunnels, private cars make up around half of the traffic, with taxis about 20%. If all 602,937 taxi trips using the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in September shifted tunnels (for the sake of argument), it would reduce Cross-Harbour Tunnel traffic by 20% and increase Western Harbour Tunnel traffic by 36%. Not enough to slow Western to a crawl, probably, while perhaps making Cross-Harbour more attractive to bus passengers (until the growing number of private car trips wipe out the bonus at least).
Tunnel radio to warn people of telephone scams
Talking of tunnels, the govt will launch a new segment on "tunnel radio" (this being the 19th century, and with no digital radio in Hong Kong, there's only one radio channel available in road tunnels) to raise awareness of.... telephone fraud! Shouldn't drivers be concentrating on the road rather than learning to say "no" to obvious telephone scammers? Or couldn't the police at least use the platform to broadcast some road safety tips, like "don't drive through pedestrian crossings on green man" or "stop killing pedestrians please"?
Some TJ fans in the police
I was chatting to some HK Island traffic cops at the harbourfront cycling event on Sunday, and one asked if they could take a photo with me... they're Transit Jam fans! I was happy to oblige and before I knew it this had turned into a group photo with senior HK Island traffic police, their Road Safety volunteers, the Police Cycling Club2 and the mascot whose name I forgot (not Mr Safegg, the other one, Mr Slightly-Angry Eyebrows Motorbike Cop). Good to hear from some of the officers there that they appreciate the "light" shone on road safety by Transit Jam even though we're pretty critical of the police 99.9% of the time. Also note, communications with police is so much better when PR wing aren’t around3.
Transit Jam headlines
MOTORBIKE PASSENGER KILLED IN WONG TAI SIN TRUCK CRASH, NO ARRESTS
HK ISLAND HARBOURFRONT CYCLE PATH TO EXTEND TO 30KM “BY EARLY 2025”
“GENERALLY IN COMPLIANCE”: BUILDINGS DEPT DEFENDS BUS CRASH WORK SITE, SAYS STORY “UNFAIR”
Hong Kong road safety
Weekly crash stats: Monday 21 Nov to Sunday 27 Nov, 2022
Traffic crashes: 717
Traffic crashes with injury: 182
Weekly average crashes with injury: 274 (2022 to end Sep)
Dashcam of the Week
A brave and stubborn car park attendant hero stopped a driver skipping the queue to enter Marco Polo Hotel car park on Canton Road. I've stopped a few cars in my time4 and it takes a special sort of will – not so much physical courage, but the ability to conquer the doubt that will inevitably creep in once the honking and yelling starts. This fella handles it beautifully, simply refusing to budge even when the driver tries to inch into him. Steel will! Part II shows the driver eventually giving up and speeding off, lesson *maybe* learned.
And, by the way, I'm British, so the very idea of jumping the queue with some sort of "priority" badge makes me want to curl up into a little ball.
And TIL the police had their own Cycling Club! WTF! These folk should make more noise! Cops who actually cycle would set far better road safety priorities than people who sit in Wan Chai HQ with a broad idea that cycling is a kids' sport requiring elbow pads.
The “daily news” PR officers who deal with info on traffic crashes are brilliant, very helpful and friendly. But just try getting some more info or context on anything, those PR are trained in obstruction…
including a regular parent driver at Small World Christian Kindergarten who would try to shortcut by driving the wrong way into the circular filter... incredibly, the school board (Generations HK) took his side and asked me to stop blocking his extremely dangerous behaviour. It scared the other parents, apparently (me blocking the car scared the other parents, not him driving at speed the wrong way down a one-way street in front of a school.)