90 percent of all journeys in Hong Kong are made via public transit

[marmar]

from the Transport Politic blog:




Hong Kong’s Expanding Metro a Model of Development-Funded Transit

As one of the densest places on earth, it is no surprise that Hong Kong is a transit city, with over 90% of journeys made by public transportation. This concentration ensures high ridership on the city’s extensive MTR metro system. Yet it also increases the cost of line expansions, since building new projects in places that are already packed with people necessitates the creation of tunnels and requires expensive environmental and social remediation.

Hong Kong, however, is going about constructing new projects at a steady pace. At the end of last month, the MTR transit agency approved the construction of the 4.3-mile South Island Line, which will provide service to Aberdeen and other sections of the south side of Hong Kong Island. In addition, the agency will complete a 1.6-mile extension of the Kwun Tong Line to Whampoa. Both will open for operations by 2015, with ground breaking scheduled for next year. The city already has a 2-mile metro extension to the West Island under construction.



All this is being built in the context of relatively high construction prices: The Kwun Tong Line is being constructed at a total cost of HK$5.6 billion, or roughly US$450 million per mile. Though that’s less expensive than what a similar project would cost in New York City, where the Second Avenue Subway is being built for more than $2 billion a mile, it’s on par with most other Western cities building new subways, unsurprising considering Hong Kong’s wealth. So what is this city’s secret? How is it able to continue building new metro expansions — and plan for more — when other cities are being forced to postpone their transit projects due to the recession and the resulting government cutbacks?

The answer is that the MTR, in association with the local government, has become one of the city’s major property developers. It has used profits from those new housing, commercial, and retail schemes to pay for part of the cost of constructing new subway lines. Along the urban rail lines, the MTR has funded dozens of new housing projects with 300 to 7,000 apartments each. The operations of the subway are entirely unsubsidized by the local government. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/12/14/hong-kongs-expanding-metro-a-model-of-development-funded-transit/

[alex cross]

1. Well it certainly helps to have the population to support mass

transit.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. With such a high population DENSITY, mass transit is almost the only workable possibility.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density

[Jkid]

2. I always liked the MTR.

k and r

[Kevin1a]

4. How can we encourage higher population density in the US?

I've always hated sprawl. Why are suburbs so damn popular in the US? I can't wait for Dave Gardner's (a local of my city) new film "Growthbusters." I would love to keep my car sitting in the garage and just take a street-car or a bus where I'm going, but I can't even get together the money to move out of my parents house (I'm 23). I really need to find some friends and just rent an apartment in Denver along one of the light rail lines, and maybe buy one of those folding bicycles.

[HEyHEY]

5. I love that city. Seoul is great too for transit

Whenever I hear any North American mayor boast about their great transit I want to laugh.