Section 8Concern over Environment

Concern over Environment

In 2020, the Transport Department continued to take active measures to ameliorate air quality. These measures include phasing in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electric light buses, controlling the growth of the franchised bus fleet, enhancing bus operations in congested areas, introducing bus-bus and bus-rail interchange schemes and reducing vehicle emission. The Department also continued to implement pedestrian schemes and promote "Walk in HK" initiatives to encourage people to walk more and had been conducting three consultancy studies with the aim of improving the walking environment.

LPG / Environment-friendly Taxis

In early 2000, the Government carried out legislative amendments banning diesel vehicles registered after 1 August 2001 to be used as taxis. The Government also provided a one-off grant to encourage taxi owners to replace their diesel taxis with LPG ones. Nowadays, electric/hybrid/bi-fuel vehicles are also used as taxis in Hong Kong. As at the end of 2020, there were 18,160 LPG taxis among the registered taxis in Hong Kong, representing over 99.98% of the whole fleet, and 1,631 of them were hybrid/ bi-fuel taxis.

LPG / Electric Light Bus

The Government launched incentive programmes in 2002, 2007 and 2010 respectively to encourage existing light bus owners to replace their old diesel vehicles with LPG, electric light buses or new diesel light buses that meet the Euro emission standard. In October 2020, the Government launched another ex-gratia payment scheme to phase out Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles including light buses. As at the end of 2020, there were 3,512 licensed LPG public light buses in Hong Kong.

Controlling the Growth of Franchised Bus Fleet

To ensure efficient use of the existing franchised bus fleet, we scrutinise the companies' five-year forward planning programmes very carefully. The Administration continues to liaise with the bus companies to re-organise and rationalise bus services, especially those services operating along busy corridors with low utilisation, to reduce bus trips in busy corridors by route cancellation, amalgamation, truncation and frequency adjustment, with a view to reducing air pollution, noise nuisance, traffic congestion and fuel consumption.

Bus Operations in Congested Areas

The Department pursues the reduction of bus trips along the busy corridors in Central, Causeway Bay and Yau Tsim Mong. Between 2011 and 2020, the cumulative reduction of the number of bus trips in the above busy corridors was 5,723. Taking Nathan Road as an example, an additional 46 bus trips per day were reduced in 2020.

Bus-bus and Bus-rail Interchange Schemes

To avoid the introduction of excessive direct bus services, help relieve congestion and minimise the environmental impact on busy corridors, the Administration encourages the bus companies to introduce more bus-bus and bus-rail interchange schemes and to offer the interchanging passengers with fare discounts. By the end of 2020, there were a total of 471 bus-bus interchange schemes.

Reducing Vehicle Emission

The Government has been implementing a series of measures to reduce vehicle emissions so as to better protect public health. Key measures include:

commenced the trial programme of retrofitting Euro IV and V double-deck franchised buses of the dominant bus models with enhanced Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems in 2020 so as to upgrade the vehicle emission standards to Euro VI level;
upgraded the vehicle emission requirements of Franchised Bus Low Emission Zones (FBLEZs) (the busy corridors in Causeway Bay, Central and Mong Kok) to Euro V to further improve the roadside air quality in the FBLEZs from 31 December 2019;
launched an incentive-cum-regulatory programme in October 2020 to progressively phase out about 40 000 Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles (DCVs) (which include goods vehicles, light buses and non-franchised buses) by the end of 2027, aiming to continuously improve roadside air quality;
strengthened the emission control for petrol vehicles and LPG using mobile roadside remote sensing equipment since September 2014; and
limited the service life of DCVs registered on or after 1 February 2014 to 15 years.

Pedestrian Schemes

In order to improve the overall pedestrian environment, the Transport Department has implemented pedestrian schemes in Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Central, Wan Chai, Sham Shui Po, Jordan, Stanley, Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. As at the end of 2020, we have implemented seven Full-time Pedestrian Schemes, 27 Part-time Pedestrian Schemes and over 40 Traffic Calming Streets. They include:

(1) Full-time Pedestrian Schemes:

Theatre Lane, Chiu Lung Street, Findlay Road, Russell Street (between Lee Garden Road and Percival Street), Paterson Street (between Great George Street and Yee Wo Street), Jardine's Crescent and Nanking Street.

(2) Part-time Pedestrian Schemes:

Lan Kwai Fong, D'Aguilar Street, Wo On Lane, Sai Yuen Lane, Tai Yuen Street, Chater Road, Ice House Street, Lockhart Road, East Point Road, Great George Street (between Cannon Street and Paterson Street), Pak Sha Road, Lee Garden Road (between Kai Chiu Road and Foo Ming Street), Marble Road, Stanley Main Street, Stanley Market Road, Stanley New Street, Bowring Street, Temple Street, Yin Chong Street, Tung Choi Street, Apliu Street, Fuk Wa Street, Pei Ho Street, Kweilin Street, San Hong Street, San Kung Street and Yuen Long New Street.

(3) Traffic Calming Streets:

Wyndham Street, Queen's Road Central, Elgin Street, Peel Street, Staunton Street, Jaffe Road, Johnston Road, Kai Chiu Road, Foo Ming Street, Lan Fong Road, Pak Sha Road, Yun Ping Road (between Kai Chiu Road and Hysan Avenue), Russell Street (between Percival Street and Canal Road East), Paterson Street (between Kingston Street and Great George Street), Great George Street (between Paterson Street and Gloucester Road), Lee Garden Road (between Foo Ming Street and Hysan Avenue; and between Kai Chiu Road and Hennessy Road), Jardine’s Bazaar, Haiphong Road, Hankow Road, Canton Road, Peking Road, Lock Road, Ashley Road, Ichang Street, Minden Avenue, Nanking Street, Pilkem Street, Shanghai Street, Bowring Street, Saigon Street, Pak Hoi Street, Ning Po Street, Fa Yuen Street, Shantung Street, Fuk Wa Street, Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Soy Street, Nelson Street, Pei Ho Street, Nam Cheong Street, Yu Chau Street, Fuk Wing Street, Kweilin Street, Yat Tai Street and Wai Chi Street.

Enhancing Walkability

In order to encourage people to "walk more, ride less" to reduce the use of mechanised transport for short-distance commuting with a view to alleviating traffic congestion, improving air quality and making walking an integral part of Hong Kong as a sustainable city, the Transport Department continued to conduct three consultancy studies in 2020, namely "Consultancy Study on Enhancing Walkability in Hong Kong", "Review of Assessment Mechanism for Hillside Escalator Links and Elevator Systems and Preliminary Feasibility Studies" and "Pedestrian Connectivity in Hong Kong Island North from Wan Chai to Sheung Wan - Feasibility Study", to improve the walking environment.

The "Consultancy Study on Enhancing Walkability in Hong Kong" aims to formulate planning and design concept which puts priority on pedestrians, and a strategy to develop Hong Kong into a world-class walkable city. The overall walkability strategy for Hong Kong was finalised and a number of walkability enhancement measures including setting up low speed limit zones and wayfinding signage, decluttering non-essential traffic signs and railings, levelling footpaths at run-in/out points of buildings and installing raised crossings on suitable bus routes, for fostering a pedestrian-friendly environment were tested out.

The "Review of Assessment Mechanism for Hillside Escalator Links and Elevator Systems and Preliminary Feasibility Studies" aims to review and improve the assessment mechanism, and on the basis of the revised mechanism, carry out initial screening, shortlisting and prioritising the 114 proposals received over the past years so as to finalise the first batch of proposals for implementation.

The "Pedestrian Connectivity in Hong Kong Island North from Wan Chai to Sheung Wan - Feasibility Study" aims to enhance the current state of pedestrian connectivity from Wan Chai to Sheung Wan. The Study has formulated improvement measures on the east-west pedestrian corridor in Hong Kong Island North. The recommended short and medium-term enhancement measures have been implemented progressively since 2019. Among them, footpath widening at Jaffe Road (section between Percival Street and Canal Road East) was completed in January 2020.