to view file - The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in ...

10
CILTHK Newsletter issue 8
a study of ...
Attitudes of Young People
in Hong Kong to Cars and
Public Transport
Dr Sharon Cullinane, Associate Professor,
The University of Hong Kong
1. Introduction.
Reducing car dependence has
become one of the key transport
objective of many developed
countries. Hong Kong is in the
envious position of never having
become one of these many cardependent
locations, despite
relatively high levels of wealth. Car
ownership in Hong Kong is very low
at only 48 cars/1000 population
compared to, for instance, 377 in
the UK, 325 in Japan and 485 in the
US (HK Transport Bureau 2001). GDP
per person, however, at HKD179,
803 ($US 23,000) in 2000 is very
similar to those of the UK and
France. The question is whether
Hong Kong can maintain this
position or whether car ownership
and use will increase in the future.
This will depend to a great extent on
the attitudes and intentions of
young people towards car
ownership. Young people are the
potential car owners and users of
the future. By determining their
views on car ownership and public
transport, we should learn a great
deal about future trends.
In order to ascertain the views of
young people towards car
ownership and public transport
use, a self-completion
questionnaire survey was
undertaken of 340 young (between
the ages of 18 and 24 inclusive),
local Hong Kong people, randomly
chosen at locations throughout
Hong Kong (including the New
Territories). The survey was carried
out in May 2001 and was
conducted in Cantonese and
subsequently translated into
English.
2. Car Ownership and
Licence holding.
Amazingly, less than 4% of
respondents owned a car
themselves. This is much lower
than other developed countries and
illustrates the potential for HK to
remain relatively traffic free. Only
25% of respondent’s families had a
car. However, 15% of respondents
had a driving licence themselves
and a further 3% were learning to
drive. Although the majority of
respondent’s families do not have a
car, around 70% have at least one
member with a full driving licence,
with 37% having more than one.
This may be an illustration of the
latent demand for cars. Other
possible explanations for the
considerably higher number of
licences than cars in respondent’s
families are:
1. some people may have obtained
a licence and driven a car
overseas.
2. some families may have had a
car in the past and have
subsequently sold or scrapped it
3. some people may have a driving
licence for work purposes (e.g.
bus or truck drivers) but do not
own a car personally.
Family car ownership was
significantly related to area of
residence with more respondents
from the NT having cars in the
family than from the island. The
higher car ownership in the New
Territories might be related to
greater need (because travel
distances are longer and public
transport is less good) or the
greater availability and cheaper cost
of car parking.