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Transport in Hong Kong

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The main islands Hong Kong Island and Lantau are both connected to the Kowloon peninsula with bridges and tunnels, both for road and rail traffic. As public transport is well-developed, the rate of car ownership is fairly low.

Most mass and local transit takes advantage of the Octopus card for fare collection. The city is accessible by an efficient MTR subway system, buses, light buses, electric tram and taxi cabs.

Escalators and moving sidewalks

Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which makes it the home of some rather unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes. In the Central and Western district there is an extensive system of escalators and moving sidewalks. The Midlevels Escalator is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, operating downhill in the morning for commuters going to work, and working uphill the rest of the time.

The whole system is 800 meters long, the vertical climb is 135 meters. Total travel time is 20 minutes, but most people walk while the system moves to shorten the travel time. Due to its vertical climb, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelled by car. It consists of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks. Daily traffic exceeds 35000 people. It has been operating since 1993. It cost HK$ 240 million (around US $30 million) to build.

Railways

Highways


total: 1,831 km
paved: 1,831 km
unpaved: 0 km (1997)

Bridges and tunnels

There are 12 vehicular tunnels in Hong Kong. They include 3 cross-harbor tunnels and 9 road tunnels.

The cross-harbor tunnels, which connect Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula across Victoria Harbour, are:

Other road tunnels are:

Major Bridges include:

Buses

Five companies operate franchised public bus services in Hong Kong:

There are also a variety of non-franchised public buses services, including feeder bus services to railway stations operated by the railway companies, and residents' services for residential estates (particularly those in the New Territories).

Mini buses

Many minibuses (red roof) and maxicabs (green roof) typically serve areas less accessible by buses.

Mini buses only hold 16 passengers without any standing space. They are slightly more expensive than buses but run much more frequently and take a more direct route than buses.

Taxis

Taxis of different colours serve different areas:

  • Red: Hong Kong Island and Kowloon ("urban area")
  • Green: New Territories
  • Blue: Lantau Island

As of 2003, there are 18,138 taxis in Hong Kong, of which 15,250 are urban taxis, 2,838 are NT taxis and 50 are Lantau taxis. Everyday they serve about 1.1 million, 207,900 and 1,400 people respectively.

Private cars

There are 517,000 vehicles with license in Hong Kong, including 64% private cars.

Seaports and harbors

Hong Kong

Merchant marine:
total: 271 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,942,646 GRT/13,101,275 DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 157, cargo 28, chemical tanker 5, combination bulk 2, container 53, liquified gas 5, multi-functional large load carrier 2, petroleum tanker 14, short-sea passenger 1, vehicle carrier 3 (1999 est.)
note: a flag of convenience registry; includes ships from 13 countries among which are UK 16, South Africa 3, China 9, Japan 6, Bermuda 2, Germany 3, Canada 2, Cyprus 1, Belgium 1, and Norway 1 (1998 est.)

Ferries

Within Hong Kong

Most of the ferry services are provided by licensed ferry operators. As of September 2003, there were 27 regular licensed passenger ferry services operated by 11 licensees, serving outlying islands, new towns and inner-Victoria Harbour. The two routes operated by the Star Ferry are franchised (vs. licensed). Additionally, 78 "kaito" ferry services are licensed to serve remote coastal settlements.

In 2002, ferry passengers amounted to 55 million.

The following companies operate ferries in Hong Kong:

Between Hong Kong and other places

Fastferry services by hydrofoil and catamarans between Hong Kong and Macau is available 24 hours a day, every day. Gamblers from Hong Kong often take a one-day excursion to that city.

  • TurboJet provides 24-hour services, connecting Central and Macau, with highest frequency of 15 minutes. It also provides the following regular services:
  • New World First Ferry (Macau) provides an 14-hour service daily between Tsim Sha Tsui and Macau, with highest frequency of 30 minutes.


The following companies operate ferries to locations outside of Hong Kong:

Airports

3 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (1999 est.)

Kai Tak International Airport was famous, but it was retired as an airport in favor of "Chek Lap Kok International Airport", which is another name for Hong Kong International Airport. The latter now serves as the region's main gateway.

Shek Kong Airfield, located near Yuen Long, is a military airfield for the People's Liberation Army.

Heliports

3 (2004 est.)

East Asia Airlines operates a regular helicopter service between Macau Ferry Terminal and Shun Tak Centre. There are around 16 daily helicopter round-trips. Flights take approximately 20 minutes in the eight-seat aircraft.

There are also a number of helipads across the territory, including:

  • Roof of the Peninsula Hotel - the only rooftop helipad in the territory, excluding the rooftop heliport of Shun Tak Centre and those in hospitals
  • Cheung Chau island, between Tung Wan Beach and Kwun Yam Beach
  • Ping Chau

See also:

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