Transportation in Hong Kong
The main islands Hong Kong Island and Lantau are both connected to the Kowloon peninsula with bridges and tunnels, both for road and rail traffic. As public transport is well-developed, the rate of car ownership is fairly low.Most mass and local transit takes advantage of the Octopus card for fare collection. The city is accessible by an efficient MTR subway system, buses, light buses, electric tram and taxi cabs.
Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which makes it the home of some rather unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes. In the Central and Western district there is an extensive system of escalators and moving sidewalks. The Midlevels Escalator is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, operating downhill in the morning for commuters going to work, and working uphill the rest of the time.
The whole system is 800 meters long, the vertical climb is 135 meters. Total travel time is 20 minutes, but most people walk while the system moves to shorten the travel time. Due to its vertical climb, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelled by car. It consists of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks. Daily traffic exceeds 35000 people. It has been operating since 1993. It cost HK$ 240 million (around US $30 million) to build.
There are 12 vehicular tunnels in Hong Kong. They include 3 cross-harbor tunnels and 9 road tunnels.
The cross-harbor tunnels, which connect Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula across Victoria Harbour, are:
History of Bus transport in Hong Kong
By 2004, Five companies operate franchised public bus services in Hong Kong:
Public light buses (PLBs) are minibuses that typically serve areas less accessible by buses. They can be catergorized into red minibuses and green minibuses.
The red ones are running for non-scheduled services. They are free to operate anywhere, except where special prohibitions apply, without control over routes or fares. In most of them, passengers are asked to pay when they are going to alight. Payment is accepted in cash, where changes are available. Only a few of them accept Octopus card payment.
The green ones operates scheduled services, with fixed routes and fixed fares. There are currently around 250 fixed green PLB routes with route numbers assigned. Payments can be made in exact fare. Most of them accept Octopus card too.
PLBs can only hold 16 passengers in maximum without any standing space. They are slightly more expensive than buses but run much more frequently and take a more direct route than buses. Passengers wish to get on the minibuses usually waives there hands at PLB stops or unrestricted roads to stop them. To get off, passengers have to shout to the driver to tell him/her where do they want to stop. Therefore, PLB is not common for foreign passengers.
Taxis of different colours serve different areas:
Taxi fare is charged according to the taximeter (addtional charges in fare table may apply). Red urban taxis are the most expensive, and the blue Lantau taxis are the cheapest. The standard of services among them are mostly the same.
As of 2003, there are 18,138 taxis in Hong Kong, of which 15,250 are urban taxis, 2,838 are NT taxis and 50 are Lantau taxis. Everyday they serve about 1.1 million, 207,900 and 1,400 people respectively.
There are 517,000 vehicles with license in Hong Kong, including 64% private cars.
Merchant marine:
Most of the ferry services are provided by licensed ferry operators. As of September 2003, there were 27 regular licensed passenger ferry services operated by 11 licensees, serving outlying islands, new towns and inner-Victoria Harbour. The two routes operated by the Star Ferry are franchised (vs. licensed). Additionally, 78 "kaito" ferry services are licensed to serve remote coastal settlements.
In 2002, ferry passengers amounted to 55 million.
The following companies operate ferries in Hong Kong:
Fastferry services by hydrofoil and catamarans between Hong Kong and Macau is available 24 hours a day, every day. Gamblers from Hong Kong often take a one-day excursion to that city.
Airports - with paved runways:
Kai Tak International Airport was famous, but it was retired as an airport in favor of "Chek Lap Kok International Airport", which is another name for Hong Kong International Airport. The latter now serves as the region's main gateway.
Shek Kong Airfield, located near Yuen Long, is a military airfield for the People's Liberation Army.
There are also a number of helipads across the territory, including:
Escalators and moving sidewalks
Railways
Highways
total: 1,831 km
paved: 1,831 km
unpaved: 0 km (1997)Bridges and tunnels
Buses
There are also a variety of non-franchised public buses services, including feeder bus services to railway stations operated by the railway companies, and residents' services for residential estates (particularly those in the New Territories).Public Light Buses (Minibuses)
Taxiss
All taxis are authorized to serve the Airport. Private cars
Seaports and harbors
Hong Kong
total:
271 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,942,646 GRT/13,101,275 DWT
ships by type:
barge carrier 1, bulk 157, cargo 28, chemical tanker 5, combination bulk 2, container 53, liquified gas 5, multi-functional large load carrier 2, petroleum tanker 14, short-sea passenger 1, vehicle carrier 3 (1999 est.)
note:
a flag of convenience registry; includes ships from 13 countries among which are UK 16, South Africa 3, China 9, Japan 6, Bermuda 2, Germany 3, Canada 2, Cyprus 1, Belgium 1, and Norway 1 (1998 est.)Ferries
Within Hong Kong
Between Hong Kong and other places
The following companies operate ferries to locations outside of Hong Kong:
Airports
3 (1999 est.)
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (1999 est.)Heliports
3 (2004 est.)
East Asia Airlines operates a regular helicopter service between Macau Ferry Terminal and Shun Tak Centre. There are around 16 daily helicopter round-trips. Flights take approximately 20 minutes in the eight-seat aircraft.
See also:
External links
