Citation

Lo H, Tang S, Wang D. J. Transp. Land Use 2008; 1(2): 23-49.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, The author(s), Publisher University of Minnesota, Center for Transportation Studies)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Public transit services (PTS) improve mobility and accessibility, and reduce car dependence. Ideally, PTS also should be financially sustainable, with affordable fares and expedient quality. The success of PTS in improving accessibility is reflected by their level of patronage: do travelers choose to use them in lieu of their private cars? PTS in Hong Kong are renowned for their quality and profitability, superbly addressing the accessibility needs of the city; they carry over 90 percent of the area's 11 million daily trips. A comparison of the per capita traincar and bus-vehicle kilometer run of PTS in Hong Kong with those in London and Singapore, however, suggests that it is not purely the supply that affects the use or accessibility of PTS in Hong Kong. By tracing and analyzing the development of PTS in Hong Kong over the past two decades, we found evidence that the high level of accessibility on mass public transit in the territory can be attributed to several factors: land use policies that encourage the development of compact, high-density townships, accompanying transport policies that grant high priority to the development of mass transit facilities, and additional government actions that ensure the financial viability of privately operated PTS, especially the innovative approach of integrating the development of public transport facility and property so as to exploit their synergy. In this paper, we study and highlight elements that contribute to the development of high accessibility on mass public transit in Hong Kong.