LCQ6: Parking arrangements at Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

     Following is a question by the Hon Holden Chow and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing, Dr Raymond So Wai-man, in the Legislative Council today (July 11):
 
Question:
 
     Regarding the parking arrangements at the Hong Kong Port (HK Port) of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge upon the latter's commissioning, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) among the 661 private car parking spaces at HK Port, of the number of those which will be made available for online booking, and the relevant parking fees and the maximum parking time allowed;
 
(2) of the number of vehicles which may be parked temporarily at the waiting area of HK Port; how the authorities will handle prolonged occupation of the waiting area by vehicles, and whether the authorities will issue warnings and fixed penalty tickets to the drivers concerned and tow away the vehicles concerned; and
 
(3) of the measures formulated by the authorities to deal with the situation in which a large number of vehicles need to make use of the waiting area to pick up and drop off passengers during peak travel seasons, in order to avoid the occurrence of serious traffic blockages?

Reply:
 
Acting President,
 
     The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) is the first cross-boundary land transport infrastructure project linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao.  In the course of planning the transport facilities at the Hong Kong Port, the Government expected and encouraged the majority of the travellers to use public transport, including franchised bus, green minibus, taxi and non-franchised bus, and then take cross-boundary shuttle bus at the Hong Kong Port to travel to Zhuhai and Macao via the HZMB.  Upon the commissioning of the HZMB, the Transport Department (TD) will strengthen public transport feeder service by introducing three new franchised bus routes and one green minibus route.
 
     Besides, there are five public car parks at the Hong Kong Port, providing a total of 661 parking spaces for private cars, 25 parking spaces for motorcycles, 12 parking spaces for the disabled, 14 parking spaces for light goods vehicles and 21 parking spaces for out-of-service taxis.
 
     The Civil Engineering and Development Department and the Planning Department are conducting a feasibility study for topside development at the artificial island where the Hong Kong Port is located to explore how to optimise the land on the island for topside and underground development for commercial and other economic uses.  The Government will study the provision of parking spaces at the topside development to further meet the parking demand of Hong Kong residents and inbound visitors.
 
     My reply to the Hon Holden Chow's question is as follows:
 
(1)    Half of the various types of parking spaces in the public car park at the Hong Kong Port will be available for booking.  The operator of the car park will introduce an online booking system for motorists to make bookings before parking.
 
     To encourage booking of parking spaces by motorists, the parking fees of private cars will be HK$20 per hour and HK$160 per day, which are concessionary rates as compared with those of non-reserved parking spaces.  Parking of vehicles in excess of the time reserved will be subjected to an hourly fee at HK$40, which is a double of the fee of a reserved parking space.  The length of each parking booking is subject to a minimum of two hours and a maximum of three days.  
 
     A progressive scale of hourly parking fees will be adopted for non-reserved parking spaces to increase the turnover rate, thereby making the parking spaces available to more motorists.  The fees for non-reserved parking spaces for private cars will be HK$20 per hour for the first two hours, HK$30 for the third hour and HK$40 per hour starting from the fourth hour.  Parking at non-reserved parking spaces is available only on an hourly basis but not on a daily basis, and will cost HK$910 for the first 24 hours of occupation.
 
(2)    At the area adjacent to the Passenger Clearance Building of the Hong Kong Port, there are 24 pick-up and drop-off spaces for franchised buses, 124 pick-up and drop-off spaces for coaches (including cross-boundary coaches, cross-boundary shuttle buses and domestic non-franchised buses), 6 pick-up and drop-off spaces for green minibuses, 20 pick-up spaces for taxis and 20 drop-off spaces for taxis and private cars. 
 
     Moreover, with reference to the car park arrangements for private cars at the Hong Kong airport, private cars bound for the Hong Kong Port can pick up passengers at public car park no. 1 close to the Passenger Clearance Building.  Apart from parking spaces for private cars, there will also be pick-up and drop-off spaces for use by private cars in Public Car Park No. 1.  Vehicles can stay for free for not more than 30 minutes for any continuous period of three hours in the car park.  The parking fee beyond the 30-minute period will be the same as the fee for parking without reservation.
 
     The drop-off area for taxis and private cars outside the Passenger Clearance Building has been designated as restricted zone, permitting the setting down of passengers only.  Should any vehicles stay or pick up passengers in the area, the Police could take enforcement action, such as giving warning or issuing fixed penalty tickets.  The vehicles concerned may be towed away if severe obstruction is caused. 
 
(3)    The TD, the contractor of the Hong Kong Port and the public car parks will closely monitor the utilisation of drop-off and pick-up areas, public car parks and nearby roads.  To facilitate orderly use of drop-off and pick-up facilities by non-franchised buses, the TD has put in place a booking system for non-franchised buses picking up travellers at the Hong Kong Port.  Additionally, there will be a taxi queuing area outside the Passenger Clearance Building to accommodate a maximum of around 220 taxis to ensure that no traffic obstruction will be caused by taxis waiting for passengers.
 
     Subject to the traffic condition at the Hong Kong Port, the Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre of the TD will adopt appropriate traffic management measures in co-ordination with the Police for on-the-spot traffic control and diversion to ensure smooth traffic flow.  The TD will also liaise with public transport operators for appropriate adjustments to service frequencies to improve the traffic condition.  Meanwhile, the Government and the MTR Corporation Limited are exploring the possibility of increasing the number of train frequencies of Tung Chung Line.
 
     In addition, the TD's Hong Kong eRouting website and mobile application will provide the public with real-time traffic information at the Hong Kong Port and the availability of parking spaces at the public car parks there.  This will help alert drivers and travellers as promptly as possible for early journey planning, such as switching to public transport for travelling to the Hong Kong Port.  In case the private car parking spaces are almost fully occupied, the TD will disseminate such information through message signs on major roads in various districts.  The Government will also make continuous publicity efforts to encourage travellers to use public transport for access to the Hong Kong Port.