Following are the speaking points by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in a keynote presentation at the Walk21 Hong Kong Conference this afternoon (October 3):

Distinguished guests, fellow speakers, ladies and gentlemen,

     Welcome once again, on behalf of the host city Hong Kong, to the first ever Walk21 Conference held in Asia.

     Asian cities generally are more populous and combine both modern-day planning and traditional growth trajectories. The context and challenges faced by them in terms of promoting walkability may arguably be different from those of, say, some European and North American cities. As our Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, suggested in her opening speech, there are many ways, and no one-size-fits-all approach, to achieve walkability. In this presentation, I am going to share with you the Hong Kong story.

     Let me start with a personal story first. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when I was young, I lived in Wan Chai, one of the older districts on Hong Kong Island. Both my primary and secondary schools were located in Wan Chai, hence I walked to and from school every day. I went to movies and did my shopping mostly in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, all accessible by walking which sometimes took 45 minutes to an hour one way. Sometimes, I would take a tram, which was the cheapest mode of public transport. Taxi was too much of a luxury. Occasionally I took a ferry across the harbour or to one of the outlying islands for a picnic.

     So, you see, my younger life had all revolved around walking, and Hong Kong in those days was very walkable. As we walked, we watched people and shops, we heard people converse, shout, argue or even fight. That was all part of ordinary street life.

     Like many big cities, Hong Kong had since moved on.

     Population has grown from just over 2 million in the early 1950s to 7.3 million today. Last year we received a total of some 59 million visitors. Together these generate about 15 million (Note 1) commuter trips on vehicles every day. Hong Kong is also a global financial hub and international trade centre. We have one of the busiest airports and sea ports in the world. Each day, close to 200 000 goods vehicles (Note 2) pass through the various land boundary control points between the city and the Mainland of China.

     As population grew, the city expanded both vertically and horizontally. Economic growth also led to affluence, urbanisation and the formation of new towns. Our public transport network had vastly improved and expanded, incorporating many more bus routes, minibuses, a Mass Transit Railway system, cross-harbour tunnels, and so on. Road traffic soared and more people were owning and driving cars.

     All these have added up to a vibrant metropolis having to accommodate a lot of traffic and roadside emissions. People sometimes complain that there are too many cars on our roads, that illegal parking has become more serious in busy areas causing nuisance to traffic and pedestrians, that our sidewalks are too narrow, and that Hong Kong has become less walkable than in the old days.

     Indeed, over the past few decades, our transport planning and policymaking had been too dominated by the need to build more roads and highways, expand the railway and subway networks, and increase bus and minibus routes, in order to move millions across the city every day. Our transport policy is public transport-oriented, with the railway as backbone and complemented by multi-modal choices.

     So far such a strategy has worked and suits our compact environment well. At present, close to 90 per cent of our daily passenger trips are made on public transport, one of the highest rates among cities in the world (Note 3). Several new rail links will be commissioned in the coming years and still more railway schemes are planned under our 2014 Railway Development Strategy. By the early 2030s, the enlarged railway network will reach 75 per cent of residential areas and 85 per cent of employment opportunities.

     Hong Kong takes pride in having one of the most efficient, reliable, accessible and generally affordable public transport systems in the world. We are also probably one of the least car-dependent cities. However, such achievements are not enough.

     Rising to the challenge of climate change and green mobility, we have to consider how to rediscover walking as a natural mode of mobility. With a compact and urbanised city with heavy economic activities, and a significant portion of the population living beyond walkable distance from their workplace, Hong Kong needs to rely on and enhance its public transport system. However, we envisage a system where the first mile and last mile to and from a public transport interchange and main station can be taken either on foot or by short-haul means like bus, minibus or bicycle. I call this a "Public Transport-Plus" strategy.

     Hong Kong may not be the kind of place with green meadows and natural woods sprinkled around the city, but we have walked a long way to put in place some thoughtful interventions to encourage our citizens to walk and to make our city more walkable. Let me highlight some of our interventions in recent years:

(a) Elevated walkway systems, typically around the catchment area of major public transport nodes;

(b) Hillside escalator links, to improve mobility of those living in densely populated areas situated in hilly places;

(c) Retrofitting barrier-free facilities at public walkways under the Universal Accessibility Programme promulgated in August 2012, to enable more inclusive mobility for people of all ages and physical abilities;

(d) Covered walkways connecting to public transport interchanges, to protect pedestrians from the elements, provide a more comfortable walking environment, and facilitate the use of public transport and the ease of switching between public transport modes; and

(e) Pedestrian schemes, to give road-use priority to pedestrians in certain busy areas.

     Ladies and gentlemen, the challenges to fostering a better walking environment in a congested, fast-pace city like Hong Kong are not to be underestimated. That more people, particularly among the younger generation, now embrace walking and cycling as a cherished lifestyle does not mean the whole community or local districts are necessarily more supportive of measures to contain growth in private cars or reduce the number of buses on the road.

     Some people are less ready to change their commuting habits and patterns. Our experience is not short of cases where local communities oppose any attempt to touch the routing or frequency of the bus network under our area-based bus routes optimisation scheme or any transport proposals resulting in people having to walk an extra 10 or 15 minutes. While people are wary of road congestion, many are critical of any strong measures to reduce cars on the road, including road charging. We now face increasing calls for building more car parks across all 18 districts.

     For many people, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We need actionable change and even a paradigm shift on how our city life is to be organised (or reorganised). At times we may need to slow down our city's pace a bit, to pause and appreciate the diversity and vibrancy around us - the unconventional mix of small to medium-sized neighbourhoods nested in highly efficient systems, and the interesting community and cultural appeals of street life in different localities. Are we willing to endure more congested trains and buses and to walk more so that we do not have to go for continuous expansion of the infrastructure? Tough questions and tough trade-off indeed.

     Our ongoing Public Transport Strategy Study has factored in the objective of promoting barrier-free transport. While we still need to expand the capacity of our multi-modal public transport system, we strive to enhance the walkability of our city for people to commute, to connect and to enjoy, making walking an integral part of Hong Kong as a sustainable city.

     Thank you very much.

Note 1: 14.8 million passenger trips.
Note 2: The average figure is 193 000 in the past 12 months, as calculated from the Transport Department's Monthly Traffic and Transport Digest.
Note 3: The Arthur D Little study of 2014 put Hong Kong as number one among 84 world cities in terms of providing an efficient public transport system.

Ends/Monday, October 3, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:22

NNNN