The performance of public transport operations, land-use and urban transport planning in Hong Kong

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the performance of public transport operations is negatively influenced by land-use, socio-economic and urban transportation development planning in Hong Kong. The failure of new town planning, undemocratic infrastructure planning, and the actively non-intervening policies of monopolized public transport services have influenced public transport operations to not provide mobility to the poor. The first part will review concepts of evaluation in public transport performance, quality of life, mobility and the political influences on public transport policy-making. The latter part will critically investigate some recent land-use, infrastructure and public transport planning that have led to mobility deprivation of the urban poor in Hong Kong. The paper argues that the urban planning policy of Hong Kong has long ignored the mobility needs of the poor. Democratic and open urban transportation planning is suggested in order to enhance the mobility of the urban low-income people.