Author: root

Summertime can be a nightmare for the residents of Hong Kong Island’s picturesque southern coast.

The narrow, twisting roads connecting the Aberdeen Tunnel and the towns of Stanley, Shek O and Repulse Bay slow to a crawl when the sun comes out. And the fear is new developments – including more shops, hotels, homes and a large car park in Stanley – will make the situation worse, while an MTR line opening next year will connect only the Aberdeen area.

Now Southern district councillor and planning expert Paul Zimmerman is urging residents to act, by getting behind his call for restrictions on tour coaches.

“We raised the issue several times in the district council. But unless the people voice out their concern, nothing will change,” said Zimmerman, CEO of Designing Hong Kong.

He has set up an online petition so the public can demand action on the situation, which he says is at its worst from April to June, then just before classes resume in September.

Maxine Yao, 38, has lived in Stanley for 15 years. But she has noticed its environment taking a dramatic turn for the worse. On one occasion, her daughters were some three hours late returning from school in Pok Fu Lam.

“One single bus having an engine problem creates a big problem. It’s ridiculous.”

Yao, a member of the Stanley Residents Concern Group, says the roads are too narrow for the huge number of cars and buses.

The problem is worst at weekends, when scores of drivers park illegally on Stanley Beach Road. She also sees safety risks, pointing to Transport Department figures showing that the number of road accidents in the district grew from 339 in 2010 to 428 last year.

And Yao said the tourist influx had also had an impact on the area’s character.

“Stanley has sufficient attractions for tourists,” she noted. “It’s a very green area, where people can relax. We should protect this, instead of attracting more mainland tourists. This is not Causeway Bay.”

David Schaus, 39, sees a similar picture from the balcony of his Repulse Bay home. Passengers spill out of dozens of buses and cars on Beach Road – while drivers park with engines on.

“I have a two-year-old son. I don’t like the idea of him being in such an environment,” he said.

The online petition suggests introducing a permit system for non-franchised buses on Repulse Bay Road, Island Road, Stanley Gap Road and Tai Tam Road. Preference would go to buses run by schools, residential buildings and employers.

The Transport Department said the problem was not the capacity of the roads, but “prolonged stopping of vehicles” to drop off or pick up passengers. A new loading bay for coaches by Repulse Bay Beach had gone into operation last week, with police asked to act on illegal parking.

The department said a permit system would have to be “carefully examined as it would not only affect tourists … but also bring unnecessary disturbance to various stakeholders”.

Zimmerman sees three options: stop new developments, widen the roads, or perform traffic management. In his opinion, the tour trade brings a “lot of cost to society” but residents “don’t get much benefit”.

A dispute over a car park in Stanley has been reignited with the Southern District Council urging the Transport Department to make a decision on the project.

First proposed in 1994, the plan calls for a multi-storey car park to be built on the site of the Stanley bus terminus.

Initial plans had the car park being built above ground, with the bus terminus underneath. However it has been flipped, with the car park now going underground.

Stanley split over plan for multi-storey car park to handle weekend crush

District councillors supporting the construction want the government to make a final decision, hoping to bring an end to the two-decade impasse over the project.

But opponents want the Transport Department to take heed of more than 800 objections to the project submitted to the Town Planning Board last year.

Maxine Yao Jie-ning, a member of the Stanley Residents Concern Group, has been spearheading the campaign against the car park for nearly two decades.

Yao led a small protest of Stanley residents during a district council meeting on April 5, and petitioned the Transport Department to reject the project.

She queried the need for a large car park at the bus terminus, as statistics from the Transport Department showed that metered parking facilities were in short supply on Sundays but nearly half empty on weekdays.

Stanley residents are worried that their town will become too congested. Photo: iStockphoto

Yao acknowledged more parking spaces were needed in Stanley on Sundays, but she said a car park would be better located in a vacant lot behind Stanley Plaza, which is currently managed by the Link Reit and opened on Sundays for parking.

She said a car park in that area would move traffic away from the heart of Stanley, easing weekend congestion.

However, a Transport Department spokesman said the bus terminus location was appropriate as it would be close to the beach and the centre of Stanley.

Southern district councillor Paul Zimmerman acknowledged the heart of Stanley could get congested.

“There’s a lot of street-side parking throughout Stanley. They drop somebody off at the beach and then start circling, hoping that somewhere along the street somebody leaves and then they can park there,” he said.

“That is causing congestion and it’s annoying.”

But he warned that building a car park at the bus terminus could be counterproductive.

“The moment they have a multi-storey car park they will reduce street-side parking for cars and increase street-side parking for coaches.”

The prospect of idling coaches along Stanley Beach Road is not something area residents want to be subjected to, he said.

In a reply to a letter sent by Yao urging the Transport Department not to approve the car park, Transport Commissioner Allan Kwok Wai-Cheong said: “We will keep reviewing the case and discuss with various stakeholders on the need [for] the proposed car park and refinement of the design to address various concerns.”