Last May 9, Kowloon"s entire transport network was paralyzed when a violent storm scattered trees and scaffolding across roads, causing over two hundred traffic accidents. Tens of thousands of commuters were left stranded. Not only did this incident raise worrying questions about the HKSAR government"s capability to cope with public transport incidents due to unexpected weather conditions, but it also exposed inadequacies in the deployment of advanced technologies in Hong Kong"s transport system.
As conceived by the government in a report released by the Taskforce on Emergency Transport Coordination set up by Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao after the massive traffic jam, use of technologies in road management infrastructure and crisis management is far from capable and sufficient to manage major transport crises.
Among the taskforce"s 56 recommendations, some 24 items featuring applications of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) for congestion relief were suggested. The advice includes more roadside devices, such as CCTV cameras, Automatic Incident Detention technology and GPS-based technology be used to allow decision-makers to have a better overview of the traffic condition. A real-time Transport Information System-as well as a system fully integrated with all existing traffic control and surveillance systems, and the Area Traffic Control Systems for urban roads-should be deployed to assist traffic diversion, generate response plans when roads are blocked, and disseminate information to the public.
In addition, the taskforce also requested that the Transport Department update the ITS strategy and incorporate some of the latest technologies to strengthen its emergency handling capabilities as soon as possible.
The task force"s recommendations are pragmatic and should be acted on accordingly. But what the report failed to expose was the crux of the problem: because of the inertia and insensitivity of the government in adopting new technologies within the transport sector, local development of ITS is far behind other ICT-advanced cities.
ITS is not a new initiative in overall transport policies. From the late 1990s, the Hong Kong government has supported several standalone ITS applications, such as automatic toll collection systems at tunnels and bridges, and the versatile Octopus stored-value cards. When the ITS strategy was later reviewed by the government in 2001, the government even pledged to invest over HK$3 billion (US$386 million) in the next ten years to set up a Transport Information System (TIS). The TIS would be designed to accomplish a variety of transport-related tasks, such as helping a driver find optimal route information via the Internet, a 3G mobile phone or in-vehicle unit, or allowing public transport operators to adopt a vehicle positioning system together with the TIS to improve fleet management. The government itself could also rely on advanced technologies to upgrade its road monitoring infrastructure to improve overall traffic flow and make traveling better for all Hong Kong citizens.
Now that over four years have passed, Hong Kong"s ITS outlook looks bleak rather than intelligent. Our ITS policy, which was made without practical initiatives, still invites criticism-from the ICT industry, transport operators, and Hong Kong citizens from all walks of life. The entire transport infrastructure has yet to be equipped with value-added ITS technologies, and many of the existing applications operate in a fragmented manner. R&D achievements in this sector are less than impressive, and the ITS market lags behind the development pace of other ICT sectors.
As if all this wasn"t not bad enough, there are serious communications problems between the Transport Department and the ICT industry. For example, it is a little surprising that the Transport Department failed to establish some sort of consortium among ICT and transport operators, despite its claims of an ITS policy in existence for so many years.
In ICT industries, many operators are beginning to complain about the HKSAR government"s ambiguous commitment to ITS. Rather than the current policy of paying lip service to the ITS issue, the industry urges the administration to increase its efforts to form more public-private partnerships in pursuing development of ITS. However, the authorities have yet to come up with pragmatic strategies and actions.
The traffic chaos caused by the storm revealed a need for action. It is time for the Hong Kong government to consult the ICT industry on how our transport infrastructure can be transformed and advanced if we wish to gain genuine benefits from the deployment of ITS in Hong Kong.
Sin Chung Kai is Hong Kong"s Legislative Councillor for IT. Contact him at cksin@sinchungkai.org.hk