Hong Kong has a highly efficient transit system that moves over 11 million passengers daily. The system includes walking, buses, ferries, trams, and the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) metro system. The MTR is very profitable and has expanded rapidly since opening in 1979. It now includes 8 lines and over 300 trains during peak periods. The MTR is also a major property developer, building developments around many of its 80+ stations. Overall, Hong Kong's transit system demonstrates how high density and a focus on sustainable transportation can serve a large population.

1. HONG KONG: TRANSIT
PARADISE
Eddie Beaver
MA Student, UNCG Geography

2. ASIA
Where is Hong Kong?

3. HONG KONG
Credit: HK Tourism Blog

4. TERRAIN
• Physical geography:
• 1 peninsula, 230+ islands
• development hemmed in by mountains, hills, and ocean
• encourages high density, vertical development and maritime
trade
• Nearly 75% of HK is ‘open space’, nearly 50% protected
‘country parks’

5. POPULATION
• Population: 7.1 million Area
Pop
(millions)
• 95% Chinese HK Island 1.3
Kowloon 2.1
• 5% primarily Westerners, Filipinos, Indians, Malays
New Territories 3.5
• Most live in ‘residential high-rises’ Lantau Island 0.14
• Population Density: 2nd among high-income nations (16,711 sq. mi)
• Biggest wealth gap in Asia (0.53 Gini)
• Median Age: 43.4

6. SKYSCRAPER CITY?
6500+ high-rise
buildings, 700 more
than NYC
• 600sq. ft. median
apartment size

7. ECONOMY (2011-2012 DATA)
‧GDP (PPP): $325.8 billion (7% growth)
‧$45,736 per capita income
‧Unemployment 3.2%
‧Leading Employment Sectors:
‧Trade, Restaurants & Hotels: 43.3%,
‧FIRE 20.7%,
‧Community & Social Services 19.5%
Sources: WSJ Asia, World Bank

8. GLOBAL CITY
‧Freest Economy in World (18 years in a row)
‧1st in Financial Market Growth
‧1st in Life Expectancy
‧5th ranked in Global City Index:
｀1st in international air freight, 2nd in port throughput’
‧Resilient in global recession
• Sources: CATO/Fraser Institute, World Economic Forum, UN,
Bloomberg,

9. EARLY HISTORY
‧4000 BCE: early settlements on HK shoreline
‧200 BCE: Han dynasty mainlanders settle
‧1600s BE: early European interactions
‧1839: British imperialists occupy, assume control of HK
‧1875: Pop. soars from 7,000 to more than 100,000
‧1875-1941: Hong Kong as British free port/entrepôt

10. FROM OCCUPATION TO ECONOMIC
DYNAMO
‧1941 Pop: 1.6 million After-WW2 Pop: 600,000
‧Japanese occupation: starvation, inflation, deportations
‧Influx of Chinese civil war refugees in late 1940s
‧Emergence of Hong Kong as economic Asian Tiger
‧manufacturing export boom
‧Population soared to 3.1 million in 1961, 3.9 in 1971

11. MEETING CHALLENGES
•Refugee influx & economic boom lead to
overcrowding, bottlenecks:
• 1950’s:
public housing estate system created (where now
more than 47% live)
• ‘New Towns’ planned, rail transit envisioned

12. NEW TOWNS
• 1970s: Nine new towns proposed to alleviate overcrowding.
• Most were in the rural New Territories (NT).
• Included mix of public & private housing estates, retail and other
business, education & medical infrastructure
• Connected to main employment centers in HK & Kowloon with
highways & bus services (later on, MTR).

13. SHA TIN NEW TOWN
In Progress-late 1970’s
2007 630,000 pop

14. Tung Chung (Lantau Island)

15. NEW TOWNS NOW
Tsuen Wan (774,000 pop)
• Now home to 3.5 million people- the ‘suburbs of HK’
• Almost all pop. growth in last decade was in N.T.
• Future land development - mostly infill, land reclamation & brownfield
revitalization

16. NEW TOWNS
N1 Tai Po New Town
N2 Fanling/Sheung Shui New Town
E1 Sha Tin New Town N3 Yuen Long New Town K1 Kai Tak Development
E2 Tseung Kwan New Town N4 Tin Shui Wai New Town H3 Cheung Chau
H1: Tung Chung New Town N5 Tsuen Wan New Town Development
N6 Tuen Mun New Town

17. WALKING
• central part of all transit
modes
• walking from
home or work to
transit stop/
station
• walking between
transit modes
(e.g., bus to
MTR)

18. WALKWAY NETWORKS
• onHK Island, network of underground tunnels, overground
walkways runs for miles
• links
public & private residential buildings, transit options, retail,
government,
• aformal urbanism?
• Frampton, Solomon & Wong ‘City Without Ground’

21. TRANSIT
• Over 90% of residents use transit & it counts for 72% of motorized trips
• 11 million passenger rides daily on all modes
• Modes include walking, buses, mini-buses, trams, ferries, and the MTR (Mass
Transit Railway)
• Intense competition among modes & companies keeps prices low and
service quality high
• Super-majority of HK residents walk to MTR stations, nearly 60% live near
MTR stations

22. OCTOPUS CARD
• Transformative, non-touch
payment system coded into key
chains, cards, etc.
• Can be used at many businesses
and for all transit options
• Speeds entry onto transit options

24. MTR
• First line active in 1979
• Very rapid expansion ever since
• Foundation of modern HK Transit
• 38% (largest) market share of transit
• Tokyo & NYC rail systems are larger

25. Credit: Creative Commons

26. MTR
• 8 main lines for 80+ stations
• 2 special lines (Disneyland, Airport
130 km/h Express)
• 300+ trains active at AM & PM
peaks
• Over 4 million daily riders
• 20-35 mins on a complete route for
most lines
• Trains carry 300+ passengers

27. MTR
• 5 mins or less frequency at peak
• 12 mins or less non-peak
• Ridership is profitable
($1.3 billion (USD) fare profits)
• Privatized in 2000

28. RAIL + PROPERTY
• Train Operator & Real Estate Developer
• ‘Transit-Oriented Development on steroids’:
• developments around 29 of 80+ stations so far
• owns 12 shopping malls, 81,962 residential units, and 744,214 sq.
meters office/commercial space, almost all located around stations
• $1.89 billion (USD) net profit (2011)

30. MTR STATIONS
• Stations have many varieties of shops.
• Bakeries, restaurants, coffee/tea
shops, retail stores & markets
• Designed for ease of exit & entry
• Stations often have multiple
access points N/E/S/W
• Large maps, detailed signs show
key locations around station

31. HIGH SPEED RAIL: HONG KONG-CHINA
• By 2015, mostly underground high speed rail line from W.
Kowloon to China.
• 26 k/m section in Hong Kong for $5 billion (USD)
• Cuts travel time in half from 100 minutes to 48

32. BUSES

33. BUSES
• Local, rapid, regional and MTR feeder lines
• Over 700 routes
• Nearly 4 million daily riders, 33.6% market share
• Widespread use of bus-only lanes
•5 private companies, no public bus co.
• Over 7,000 ‘private buses’- licensed for businesses, schools, etc.

34. LIGHT BUSES
• 4000+ Light Buses (Mini-Buses)
• 16 passenger max
• Nearly 2 million daily passengers,
16.3% market share
• 2 types (green & red)
• Green runs defined route
• Red is flexible

35. TRAMS
• Exclusively double-decker line
• ‘Ding dings’ to locals
• > 100+ tram stops
• >200K passengers
• Price $2.30 HK ($.33 USD)

36. TAXIS & OTHER AUTOS
• Autos discouraged> high taxes (fuel, owner) & fees (parking)
• 18,000+ taxis
• 8% of transit share
• 5,000 more than NYC

37. FERRIES
• 25+ passenger ferry services
• Cross-harbortransit &
tourist magnet
• 1.2% transit market share
• Cheap: $2.50-$3.30 HKD
($0.35-0.45 USD)

38. TWO CRITICAL CHALLENGES
• Air pollution (much
worse in past 10
years)
• Commuting time
(either 35 or 45
minutes one-way)

39. TOURISM

40. STUDY ABROAD
• Consider studying abroad at http://studyabroad.uncg.edu/
• Hong Kong is home to three World Top 50 research universities
• University of Hong Kong
• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong University of Science & Technology