Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (June 6):
Question:
Regarding the supply of and demand for parking spaces, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of private cars, motorcycles and the various classes of commercial vehicles that were (i) registered and (ii) first registered, in each of the past five years;
(2) of the respective numbers of (i) private cars, motorcycles and the various classes of commercial vehicles, and (ii) the various types of parking spaces, as projected by the authorities, in each of the coming three years (with a breakdown by Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories);
(3) of the number of car parks provided on short-term tenancy sites and the number of parking spaces provided therein, in each of the past five years (with a breakdown by Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories);
(4) of the number of multi-storey car parks under the Transport Department (TD) and the number of parking spaces provided therein, in each of the past five years (with a breakdown by Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories);
(5) of the respective average (i) daily, (ii) peak hour and (iii) non-peak hour utilization rates of the parking spaces in the multi-storey car parks under TD, in each of the past five years;
(6) of the respective numbers of parking spaces used to be provided in the Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park and Murray Road Multi-storey Car Park, which have ceased operation, as well as those currently provided in the Rumsey Street Car Park, which is proposed to be converted for commercial development, and whether the authorities have plans to increase the number of parking spaces in the same districts to make up for the shortfalls; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(7) whether it will consider providing additional parking spaces for commercial vehicles in redeveloped and newly built multi-storey car parks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Government has always been concerned about the supply of, and demand for, parking spaces for different types of vehicles, and understands that different types of vehicles have different parking needs. The Government is actively pursuing the following measures to increase the supply of parking spaces:
(i) designating night-time parking spaces at suitable on-street locations;
(ii) requiring developers to provide in new development projects parking spaces with reference to the higher end of the range under the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines;
(iii) providing public car parks in suitable new Government, Institution and Community facilities;
(iv) allowing school buses to park in the school premises after school;
(v) providing more coach parking spaces and pick-up/drop-off facilities;
(vi) taking forward a consultancy study on parking spaces for commercial vehicles; and
(vii) examining the feasibility of providing government multi-storey car parks in various locations and the suitability to adopt an automated parking system.
As regards multi-storey car parks, in view of limited land resources in Hong Kong, generally speaking, sites suitable for stand-alone multi-storey car park uses also have potential for other development purposes. It would make the most optimal use of land and bring more benefits to the community as a whole if public parking spaces could be planned with and integrated into development projects.
My reply to the various parts of the Hon Chan Hak-kan's question is as follows:
(1) The number of private cars, motorcycles and various classes of commercial vehicles registered and first registered in the past five years is set out in Annex 1.
(2) The size of the vehicle fleet is influenced by a basket of factors, including economic conditions, transport and taxation policies, ancillary public transport facilities, travel habits of the public, population structure, etc. As it is difficult to accurately predict how these factors, and the interplay of these factors, affect the propensity to purchase new vehicles, the Government has not compiled any forecast on the future fleet size of different types of vehicles.
On the supply of parking spaces, under the current policy, the Government mainly requires the provision of parking spaces in private development projects to meet their own parking demands. Where practicable, the Government will require developers, through Land Sale Programme, to provide additional public parking spaces so as to meet the parking needs for surrounding areas. Since the provision of new parking spaces through the above means is contingent on the progress of individual development projects, the Transport Department (TD) has not compiled any forecast on parking space provision.
(3) Generally speaking, there is no provision in the tenancy mandating short-term tenancy (STT) car parks to provide a prescribed number of parking spaces. This allows the operators to make arrangements flexibly having regard to actual circumstances to cater for the parking demands of different types of vehicles. The TD had commissioned a consultant to conduct surveys on the number of parking spaces in STT fee-paying public car parks in the past four years. Relevant details are set out in Annex 2.
(4) The number of multi-storey car parks managed by the TD and the number of parking spaces therein in each of the past five years are set out in Annex 3.
(5) The peak hours and non-peak hours vary among individual car parks managed by the TD. The respective average daily, daytime and night-time utilisation rates of the multi-storey car parks managed by the TD in each of the past five years are set out in Annex 4.
(6) Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park and Murray Road Multi-storey Car Park, both decommissioned, provided 900 and 443 parking spaces respectively prior to their cessation of operation. As regards Rumsey Street Multi-storey Car Park, 983 parking spaces are provided.
When the Government considers resuming car park facilities for other development purposes, it will examine the potential impact of the cancellation of the parking spaces involved. Under the current policies, if so required under the land lease conditions, the developer responsible for a redevelopment project should not only provide parking spaces designated for own use of the development project, but should also provide additional parking spaces for public use. This approach integrates public parking spaces with the development project. In this connection, the developer responsible for the Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park redevelopment project is required to additionally provide 345 and 39 parking spaces for private cars and motorcycles respectively for public use, on top of the 71 parking spaces for private cars needed for the development project itself. As regards the Murray Road Multi-storey Car Park redevelopment project, the developer will additionally provide no fewer than 102 and 69 public parking spaces for private cars and motorcycles respectively, on top of the 163 and nine parking spaces for private cars and motorcycles respectively needed for the development project itself based on the latest building plans submitted by the developer (Note). For the Rumsey Street Multi-storey Car Park, its redevelopment plan is pending further assessment and so no implementation schedule is available at this stage.
(7) The TD commenced a consultancy study on parking for commercial vehicles in December 2017 for completion in 2019. The study includes an assessment of the parking demand of commercial vehicles by district, and formulation of short to long term measures to address the demand. The TD will consider, in the context of the study, the proposal for providing additional parking spaces for commercial vehicles in redeveloped and newly built multi-storey car parks.
Note: As the building plans concerned are still subject to vetting, the exact numbers of parking spaces are yet to be confirmed.
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