Car dependence in a public transport dominated city: evidence from Hong Kong

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Abstract

Reducing car traffic to improve transport sustainability has become a major goal of transport policy. This is also the case in Hong Kong where car ownership and use is, by international standards, very low. The objectives here are first to determine why people own cars in Hong Kong, second to explore how dependent car owners are on their cars and third to identify the policy implications. Based on a survey of 401 car owners, the finding is that despite the existence of excellent public transport, once a car has been acquired, people become dependent on it for virtually all journey purposes. To achieve greater sustainability, therefore, car ownership and use must be controlled.

Introduction

Sustainable transport has become a key global transport objective. One of the major ways of improving sustainability is to reduce car ownership and use and encourage a modal shift towards public transport (Banister, 1999; Commission of the European Communities, 2001). Like many other cities, Hong Kong has instigated policies that attempt to contain car ownership and use, the main rationale for which is to exert some control over both congestion and pollution. Hong Kong differs, however, from most other cities in the developed world in that it has never become car-dependent.

As Kenworthy and Laube (1999) argue, despite appearances, many Asian cities are not heavily dependent on cars. Car ownership and use in Hong Kong are lower than in every city in the developed world (Cullinane, 2002). It could be said, however, that Hong Kong is car-saturated (a term coined by Newman and Kenworthy, 2000) since it has one of the highest vehicle densities in the world. In 1998, there were 268 motor vehicles per kilometre of road in Hong Kong, compared with 219 in Singapore (Hong Kong Transport Department, 2001) and 187 in London (UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 1998). In addition, there is very limited space for the construction of additional roadspace. It is in Hong Kong’s interest, therefore, to maintain these low levels of car ownership and use.

Relatively little is known about the travel behaviour and attitudes to transport of Hong Kong residents. Probably because car ownership is so low, little is known about the type of people who own a car, the reasons why they do and how and when they use them. The objectives of this paper, therefore, are (i) to determine why people own cars in Hong Kong, (ii) to determine how dependent car owners are on their cars in a city where not only are they in a minority, but also where the public transport alternatives are so good, and (iii) to discuss the policy implications both for Hong Kong and other major cities in the developed world.

To date, three surveys have been carried out by one of the authors on the attitudes of students, young people and residents in general towards cars and public transport in Hong Kong (Cullinane, 2001, Cullinane, 2002, Cullinane, 2003). All three surveys have shown that despite very low car ownership, there is a considerable desire to own a car on the part of many Hong Kong people, particularly young men. If congestion and pollution are a concern, however, car ownership is only one part of the equation; car use is another important aspect. By focusing on car owners, this paper sheds light on the car-dependence debate as well as informing policy in Hong Kong. Through an understanding of the behaviour and attitudes of car owners, car ownership and use may be easier to deter in the future.

Section snippets

Background to transport in Hong Kong

A comprehensive overview of transport in Hong Kong is given in Cullinane (2003). To summarise, car ownership is very low at 49 cars per thousand population, although the number of cars increased by 68% between 1990 and 2000. Public transport is hugely important, accounting for around 90% of motorised journeys. It consists of a mixture of road and rail based modes. The main rail-based modes are the Kowloon–Canton Railway (the KCR) and the Mass Transit Railway (the MTR). The KCR is an overland

Methodology

This paper presents the results of an interview survey of 401 car-owning residents of Hong Kong conducted in the summer of 2001. The content of the questionnaire was informed by focus group discussions held prior to the survey. A non-probability sampling technique was adopted because it proved impossible to obtain the contact details of car owners in Hong Kong. Since car owners are a relatively small group compared to non-car owners, the effectiveness of a general household survey would be

Background statistics

Only 19% of respondents were female, reflecting a similar bias in licence holding within Hong Kong. According to figures provided by the Licensing Division of the Transport Department (Hong Kong Transport Department, 2002), only 25% of licence holders are female. Fifteen percent of the respondents had a company car. This compares with 19% in a large scale survey of 32,000 households carried out in 1992 by the MVA for the Hong Kong Transport Department (MVA, 1993). These two sets of statistics

Conclusions

The results of the survey of car owners discussed in this paper suggest that although car ownership is not very widespread in Hong Kong, once people acquire a car, they perceive it to be a necessary part of their lifestyle. The level of necessity attached to the car, however, is less than in the UK. The main reasons for the initial car purchase are to carry things and to save time, but then it is used for the majority of trips for all activity purposes (irrespective of the need to carry

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