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Following is a question by the Hon Howard Young and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (July 12) :
Question:
It is learnt that with the growing number of inbound tourists, the problem of insufficient coach parking spaces and pick-up/set-down points at tourist attractions and shopping areas is deteriorating. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current numbers of parking spaces and pick-up/set-down points for coaches, how the numbers compare to those in the past three years and the projected numbers three years from now;
(b) whether the authorities have studied the latest position of shortage of coach parking spaces since the publication of The Second Parking Demand Study - Final Report in November 2002; if they have, of the study results; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) of the measures to solve the problem of insufficient coach parking spaces at tourist attractions and shopping areas?
Reply:
Madam President,
There are currently 3,480 designated parking spaces and 70 pick-up/set-down points for coaches, representing an increase of 100 and 60 spaces respectively when compared with that three years ago. We will try to increase the supply of designated coach parking and pick-up/set-down facilities. However, provision of these facilities is affected by factors including the development of individual districts, the traffic conditions nearby as well as the results of local consultation. We therefore do not have a clear projection of the number of such facilities three years from now.
Apart from designated parking and pick-up/set-down facilities, coaches are also parked in wholesale markets, factories, schools, vacant land adjacent to village houses and non-government land awaiting development. Some cross-boundary coaches are also parked in the Mainland.
After the completion of The Second Parking Demand Study, we continue to collect data on parking spaces for different types of vehicles regularly. The current shortfall in coach parking spaces is about 400, which has been reduced by half when compared with the shortfall three years ago. This shows that the situation has been improving.
We have formed an inter-departmental working group comprising the Transport Department, Police, Tourism Commission and the Lands Department etc. to handle issues concerning provision of parking spaces for all types of vehicles and examine improvement measures. We also listen to views from the tourism and transport trades on the provision of coach parking spaces. Currently, the Police implement traffic management measures at popular tourist attractions to better utilise the existing pick-up/set-down facilities. In addition, we have also adopted other measures to improve the situation, including designating more on-street parking and pick-up/set-down facilities; providing coach parking spaces at new tourist attractions; converting parking spaces for other vehicles to coach parking spaces based on actual demand; as well as providing more short term tenancy sites for public car park operations, and making it a requirement to provide coach parking spaces at those car parks.
Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:55
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