Public transport constitutes a lion's share of commuting in Hong Kong. We are a city of with a population of 7 million, frequented by a high traffic of business visitors and tourists which equals four times our population. About 90% of our commuting, or over 10 million passenger trips per day, are by public means.
These passengers are serviced by our fleet of over 35,000 taxis, public buses and light buses, in addition to our extensive rail network which together make a highly efficient public transportation system. As a result of this, our greenhouse gas emission from our road-transport sector is less than one tonne per capita each year, significantly below the figures for most of the developed economies.
We have an extremely low car-ownership rate in Hong Kong. The number of cars per 1,000 population is about 83, which compares favourably with many developed and developing economies.
The backbone of Hong Kong's transport system is our extensive railway network. Opened in 1979, our railways play a vital role in meeting the transportation needs of our city commuters.
The network now has a total rail length of over 200 kilometres, carrying about 3.6 million passenger trips every day and accounting for about 35% of domestic public transport and some 62% of the land-based cross-boundary passenger trips.
Coupled with our fleet of buses, double-deckers, single-deckers, as well as the red and green public mini-buses, the railway network has been the most popular public transportation means for Hong Kong residents and visitors alike - and we keep expanding the network.
Apart from adding new lines to service transport within the city, we are also building an express line that will link Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, in 48 minutes. The $66.8 billion project will also connect Hong Kong with the 16,000-kilometre express rail network of Mainland China.
Key factors
The popularity of public transport in Hong Kong is by no means an accident. We took a decision in the 1970s to make railway the mainstay of our city's public transportation system.
Efforts are constantly made to upkeep the quality and extend the coverage of our rail network, as well as integrating it with the other public transportation modes by enhancing connectivity.
Obviously, price is a crucial factor in determining the usage of our public transportation system. Fares on most of the rail and bus trips are relatively low compared with other big cities in the world.
Besides, thanks to the innovation of our entrepreneurs, we introduced an Octopus card system in 1997, a micro-chip enhanced cash card that can be used to pay the fares on all public transportations, thus ensuring commuters travel at great ease. In sum, it is price differentiation, quality of service and it is the ease of use that drive passenger flows to the public sector.
Green road transport
You may think that with such a high-penetration public transportation system, officials like me could just sit back and leave our transportation sector alone in our climate solution. I don't have such a luxury.
The fact is, in tackling another pressing environmental problem in Hong Kong, that is air pollution, we found a solution which could possibly serve a dual purpose of also further suppressing the greenhouse gas emission from our transport sector - the electric vehicles.
Even in its current developing state, the electric-vehicle technology perfectly fits cities like Hong Kong. The total area of our city is 1,000 square kilometres, but only 25% is built-up area.
The majority of private-vehicle usage involves short-range urban travel, which means the current limitations for electric vehicles on its driving range is less of a challenge to the majority of commuters in Hong Kong than to those in other cities.
Setting up of charging infrastructure causes little hassle for us, thanks to our compact city layout and the fact that most of our parking spaces are enclosed in well-managed carparks in multi-storey buildings.
The question for our government is very simple: are we in or out of the EV formula. Since, Hong Kong as a small market and driving on the right - or should I say "wrong" - side, we cannot just sit there to wait for the electric vehicles to come. It did not take us long to make up our mind.
Securing electric cars
If you're a reader of newspapers in Hong Kong, you'd find me making numerous visits to Tokyo and Shenzhen to chase after the electric vehicle manufacturers to secure the cars for Hong Kong. Our strategy is simple: Since charging and driving range are not insurmountable problems for our city, the one thing missing in our electric-vehicle formula is the cars.
In the coming year, we have secured initially a minimum of 200 electric vehicles from the Japanese private car manufacturers, Mitsubishi and Nissan. We have recently completed a trial of Mitsubishi "i-MiEV" and the testing results are positive.
Three "i-MiEV" cars, hot off the production lines, have recently been delivered to the Hong Kong Government and we are awaiting more. We have also completed a trial on BYD's plug-in hybrid vehicles. And our target is not just limited to private car manufacturers.
Incentives offered
Apart from fostering closer collaboration with electric-vehicle manufacturers, the Hong Kong Government provides financial incentives for electric-vehicle buyers through waiver of first registration tax - an equivalent of up to 50% of showroom price - and promotes the setting up of a charging network.
We have also joined the C40 electric vehicle steering committee to join hands with our international partners to give a concerted push on the progress. Hong Kong will continue to encourage vehicle manufacturers to provide their cleaner vehicle models to Hong Kong market.
Our Financial Secretary also personally chairs a steering committee to bring together all the stakeholders concerned to pick their brain on the way Hong Kong should go about in promoting electric vehicles.
Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau gave this address at a roundtable session of the Climate Summit for Mayors in Copenhagen on "Low carbon transport - Mass transit & green vehicles".
