The Transport Department launched a new round of "Traffic Habits Survey" on Tuesday (6th), and is expected to interview about 35,000 households by means of questionnaires, telephone calls or face-to-face interviews by December to collect data on citizens' travel patterns and habits for forecasting traffic information, planning transport facilities and formulating transport policy.
Liang Shihao, the assistant director of the department, said that the content of the investigation may involve online car-hailing or electric scooters, and there will also be some questions related to the itinerary and time received by citizens to the "Northern Metropolis".
Similar surveys are conducted about every ten years. The last survey was conducted between September 2011 and March 2012. At that time, 35,401 households and 2,785 tourists who stayed in hotels or guesthouses were interviewed. The survey items included basic information on travel patterns, private vehicles Usage and related expenditures, intention to use transport services, walking and use of moving walkways, bicycle usage, impact of traffic information systems, elders' opinions on transport services, factors that affect transport preferences, etc.
Liang Shihao pointed out that the data collected this time will be divided into two categories, namely travel data and factors and opinions on the formation of traffic habits.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)
Investigation comments need to be actively followed up
It is a good thing that the authorities are willing to investigate the habits of citizens as the basis for their policies, but the results of the investigation must be followed up actively in order to have the desired effect.
For example, a previous survey report published in 2014 recommended that the authorities conduct more frequent surveys to reflect how much money pedestrians are willing to spend in exchange for time-saving "behavioral time values." Conduct time-value investigations more regularly," which officials seem to be turning a deaf ear nearly two decades later.
At the same time, some of the opinions expressed by the respondents in the survey did not seem to be accepted by the authorities. For example, in the two similar surveys in 2002 and 2011, in addition to "building additional railways", the public most supported traffic relief The congestion measure is to limit the number of private vehicle licenses, but the authorities obviously do not take this seriously. As a result, the number of private car licenses has risen from 340,855 at the end of 2002 to 434,843 at the end of 2011 and 581,012 in June this year.
Policy measures should be introduced in a timely manner
In addition, some opinions may be noticed by the Government and are taking corresponding measures, but the progress of the work is too slow.
For example, in the 2011 survey of opinions on laws and enforcement measures that may be applicable to cycling, 90% of those who know and do not know how to drive a bicycle support the mandatory wearing of safety helmets on the roadway. At the beginning of the same year, the Legislative Council Committee on Transport also approved it. The motion urges the authorities to study legislation and regulation, but the government department actually delayed the restart of relevant legislative consultation work until this year.
Introducing the survey, a spokesman for the department said, "In the past ten years, Hong Kong society has developed rapidly, and people's travel habits have undergone many changes... We appeal to all invited households to support the survey, so that the Transport Department can grasp and assess these change".
As the officials themselves said, citizens' traffic habits will change over time, so the validity period of the data naturally has its own time limit.
If you do not promptly introduce policy measures with reference to the opinions or suggestions obtained, or even delay the completion of the next survey, the survey itself will be a waste of effort.
Cross-regional travel is difficult to balance work and housing
What's more noteworthy is that the "Survey" will also assess the degree of "self-sufficiency" of the flight itineraries in each region, that is, the proportion of the trips within the same region to the total number of trips to and from the region.
In the last survey in 2011, only Hong Kong Island was able to achieve half the level of "self-sufficiency", and the figures in Kowloon and the New Territories were between 10 and 40%. However, the report actually regarded the increase in inter-district travel as "the sustainable development of the New Territories", The benefits of an "improved public transport network" ignore the time-consuming and labor-intensive transition of travelers.
Moreover, the previous report explained that the average number of trips per trip was as high as 1.23, while commuters and commuters "in order to save time or money...have a greater chance of choosing to transfer", but on the other hand, it pointed to "trip cost" as an influence. The importance of citizens' choice of public transport has decreased, while the "travel time value" of car-free households has increased, that is, they are willing to spend more money in exchange for the time they can save. These observations are actually quite contradictory.
One of the key action directions for the "Northern Metropolitan Region" is "proactively improving the work-housing balance". Last year's Chief Executive's Policy Address also stated that the previous urban planning "has not achieved the goal of work-housing balance and self-sufficiency".
Since this "Survey" intends to introduce issues related to the "Northern Metropolitan Area", the requirement of "job-housing balance" should be put on the agenda; in addition, the Transport Department, together with other bureaux and heads of the Department, belong to the "Land and Housing Supply Coordination Group". "Members, they should increase coordination and in-depth analysis of the results of the "Survey" in the future, and work together to improve the "self-sufficiency" of residents' travel in various districts, rather than fighting alone and talking to themselves.
Increasing the plot ratio is not as good as developing new land The long-term vision does not mean that we can develop the New Territories North without specific goals to cooperate with the new railway