Minutes of the 3rd meeting of Traffic and Transport Committee (T&TC) Southern District Council (SDC) (2020-2023)

Date : 9 July 2020 Time : 2:30 p.m. Venue : SDC Conference Room

Present: Mr LO Kin-hei (Chairman of SDC) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN (Vice-Chairman of SDC) Mr CHAN Hin-chung (Chairman of T&TC) Ms LI Shee-lin (Vice-Chairlady of T&TC) Mr CHAN Ping-yeung Ms CHAN Yan-yi Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael Mr POON Ping-hong Mr TSUI Yuen-wa Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus Mr YIM Chun-ho Mr YU Chun-hei, James Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany

Secretary: Miss LAU Wing-yu, Christy Executive Officer (District Council) 3, Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

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In Attendance: Miss CHENG Wai-sum, Sum District Officer (Southern) (Acting), Home Affairs Department Mr HON Cho-yiu, Kenneth Senior Transport Officer/Southern, Transport Department Mr LO Chun-hong, Dennis Senior Transport Officer/Housing and Projects, Transport Department Miss CHUNG Wai-ying, Tracy Transport Officer/Southern 1, Transport Department Mr WONG Chi-yeung Transport Officers/Southern 2, Transport Department Mr HUNG Tsz-hin Engineer/Southern 1, Transport Department Mr LEUNG See-yuen, Gary Engineer/Southern 2, Transport Department Mr LEE Chun-yeung, Paul District Engineer, South West, Highways Department Mr HO Chun-hin District Operations Officer (Western District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr YONG Kwok-chung Officer-in-charge, District Traffic Team (Western), Hong Kong Police Force Mr Kevin LI Public Affairs Manager, Citybus / NWFB Ltd Mr Albert LEUNG Operations Manager, NWFB Ltd for Mr Philip WONG Operations Manager (Dept. One), Citybus agenda Ltd item 2 Ms YEUNG Lee-wah, Lilian Public Relations Manager-External Affairs, MTR Corporation Mr YAU Wai-fu, William Senior Landscape Architect/VM(U&Is), Highways Department for Mr AU YEUNG Wai-ming Deputy District Leisure Manager (District agenda Support) Southern, item 3 Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms WAI Mei-ling Leisure Manager (Tree), Hong Kong West, Leisure and Cultural Services Department

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Mr FONG Chi-hang, Colin Senior Project Manager 424, Architectural Services Department Ms Louisa Y.Y. TSANG Associate Director, MVA Asia Limited Mrs Irene CHENG Senior Manager (Capital Projects), Hospital Authority Ms Carmen CHAN Manager (Capital Projects), Hospital Authority for Dr K.H. CHAN Chief Manager, Planning and agenda Commissioning, Hong Kong West Cluster, item 4 Hospital Authority Ms Pinky L.K. MAK Senior Hospital Manager (Planning & Commissioning Section), Queen Mary Hospital Ms Mabel KWONG Public and Community Relations Officer, Hong Kong West Cluster, Hospital Authority Mr TUNG Chun-yin Senior Engineer/Survey and Projects, for Transport Department agenda Mr SO Wing-kin Engineer/Projects 3, Transport Department item 6

Opening Remarks:

The Chairman said that in view of the latest situation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), this meeting was not open to the public in order to reduce the risk of crowd gathering. Members and media were advised to bring their own masks and water. Before entering the venue, all persons were subject to checking of body temperature with the assistance of the staff of Southern District Office, and were required to complete a health declaration form and declare whether he/she was under the 14-day compulsory quarantine. The Chairman reminded members to speak as concisely as possible and government representatives need not repeat the written replies in their response, so that the meeting might end by the estimated time, i.e. 5:40 p.m.

2. The Chairman welcomed members and the following regular government representatives to the meeting:

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(a) Mr HON Cho-yiu, Kenneth and Mr LO Chun-hong, Dennis, Senior Transport Officers of the Transport Department (TD); (b) Miss CHUNG Wai-ying, Tracy and Mr WONG Chi-yeung, Transport Officers of TD; (c) Mr HUNG Tsz-hin and Mr LEUNG See-yuen, Gary, Engineers of TD; (d) Mr LEE Chun-yeung, Paul, District Engineer of the Highways Department (HyD); (e) Mr HO Chun-hin, District Operations Officer (Western District) of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF); and (f) Mr YONG Kwok-chung, Officer-in-charge, District Traffic Team (Western) of HKPF.

3. The Chairman suggested that each member be allotted a maximum of two three-minute slots to speak in respect of each agenda item. Members agreed to this arrangement.

Agenda Item 1: Confirmation of the Minutes of the 2nd T&TC Meeting Held on 14 May 2020

(Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN joined the meeting at 2:35 p.m.)

4. The Chairman said that prior to the meeting, the above draft minutes of the meeting in Chinese and English had been circulated to members for comments.

5. The minutes of the 2nd T&TC meeting in Chinese and English were confirmed by the Committee.

Agenda Item 2: Public Transport Services and Traffic Situation in the Southern District (Include agenda items on “Resumption of Public Transport Frequency after Subsiding of Wuhan Pneumonia Epidemic” and “Concern over Congestion of the Northbound Lane of Aberdeen Tunnel during Weekends” raised by Mr YU Chun-hei, James and Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin)

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(TTC Paper No. 20/2020)

(Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun and Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael joined the meeting at 2:34 p.m. and 3:01 p.m., respectively.)

6. The Chairman welcomed the following representatives to the meeting:

(a) Mr Kevin LI, Public Affairs Manager of Citybus / NWFB Ltd; (b) Mr Albert LEUNG, Operations Manager of NWFB Ltd; (c) Mr Philip WONG, Operations Manager (Dept. One) of Citybus Ltd; and (d) Ms Lilian YEUNG, Public Relations Manager-External Affairs of MTR Corporation (MTRC).

7. The Chairman invited Mr YU Chun-hei, James and Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin to briefly introduce the agenda item.

8. Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin briefed members on the agenda item as follows:

(a) given the easing trend of the epidemic, the usage of roads had been rising recently. There was traffic congestion at the northbound lane (Wan Chai bound) of Aberdeen Tunnel again, and the problem became particularly serious on Saturdays at around noon time;

(b) the traffic congestion at Aberdeen Tunnel during weekends was mainly attributed to the parking concessions introduced by Times Square in Causeway Bay, which had resulted in a large number of private cars waiting for their turn to enter the car park. These cars had greatly obstructed the vehicular traffic on the neighbouring roads of the shopping centre. Consequently, the traffic queue tailed back to Aberdeen Tunnel, and the traffic congestion had significantly increased the commuting time of the residents in the Southern District;

(c) for example, the normal journey time of CTB Route No. 592 was between 19 and 23 minutes. But owing to traffic congestion in Aberdeen Tunnel, the journey time had increased to around 40 minutes. Many residents of South Horizons had reported to him the problem of prolonged waiting time; and 5

(d) Aberdeen Tunnel was the main access road of Southern District residents. He enquired how the Transport Department (TD) would tackle the problem of traffic queue in Wan Chai District tailing back to Aberdeen Tunnel and whether TD had deployed staff to discuss any improvement options with the representatives of Times Square.

9. Mr YU Chun-hei, James said that the Committee had requested the various public transport operators to provide the criteria for frequency adjustments under the epidemic for members’ reference at a previous meeting, but had not received any response yet. While he understood that the public transport operators needed to reduce frequency in view of the decreased patronage and limited resources, he hoped that the operators could give a clear account of the criteria for frequency adjustments.

10. The Chairman enquired whether the representatives of TD, the bus companies and MTRC had any supplementary response in addition to the written replies.

11. Mr Kenneth HON said that TD had followed up the situation of CTB Route No. 592 and found that the frequency of that route during peak hours was normal in the latter half of June. Neither was there any lost trip. The bus companies had now resumed the normal frequencies of most bus routes and would only adjust the frequencies of some routes with low usage after 9 p.m.

12. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries.

13. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin said that the parking concessions offered by Times Square had attracted a large number of motorists. When the parking spaces were fully occupied, some motorists would park their vehicles at the entry/exit point of the car park. Consequently, there was traffic congestion and the traffic queue tailed back to Aberdeen Tunnel. He advised TD to liaise with Times Square and adopt corresponding measures to improve the local traffic; 6

(b) Mr YU Chun-hei, James enquired whether TD and the various public transport operators would consider reducing frequencies again in view of the unstable situation of the epidemic. He once again requested the operators to provide the criteria for frequency adjustments for members’ reference;

(c) Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus said that the parking concessions offered by Times Square had great impacts on the traffic of the neighbouring roads. Even though some staff members of the shopping centre and police officers had asked the motorists to leave, some motorists continued to park their vehicles at the roads adjacent to the shopping centre. He enquired whether TD would review the parking concessions and discuss an improvement option with the representatives of Times Square;

(d) Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said some residents had reported to her the unstable frequency of CTB Route No. 592 at night. She also pointed out that the expected arrival time shown by the mobile app of NWFB/CTB was inaccurate and had caused inconvenience to the passengers. She was of the view that TD should carry out traffic control measures in Wan Chai District to avoid affecting the bus services in the Southern District;

(e) Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin supplemented that traffic congestion also occurred frequently at the mini-bus stop outside the car park of Lee Garden One and had resulted in tailing back of the traffic queue;

(f) Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo said the mobile app had once shown that NWFB Route No. 38 (Chi Fu bound) departed at 50-minute intervals at night, which was a large discrepancy from the normal frequency. Besides, he also wished to know why the mobile app had once shown two departures of that route within two minutes in the afternoon. In view of the third wave of the epidemic, he hoped that TD and the bus companies would provide information about the bus frequency adjustment mechanism to facilitate passengers’ travel arrangements;

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(g) Mr TSUI Yuen-wa enquired whether TD had studied the congestion at Aberdeen Tunnel after the commissioning of Central – Wan Chai Bypass (the Bypass) to evaluate whether the Bypass had achieved the desired effect of improving the traffic condition of Aberdeen Tunnel;

(h) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN commented that under the epidemic, bus frequencies should be increased to ensure the health and safety of passengers. He enquired whether the Government would provide subsidies to the bus companies in this respect. Owing to anti-epidemic fatigue, many members of the public had opted to go outside. As a result, Causeway Bay became a traffic bottleneck obstructing the flow of vehicles heading towards various directions. He enquired whether the relevant department had any solutions. Regarding the traffic problem in the vicinity of Times Square, he suggested that the Police ask the motorists to leave when there was a large number of waiting vehicles, whereas the shopping centre could display the number of remaining parking spaces so as to reduce the number of vehicles waiting outside the car park. If there was no improvement, consideration could be given to closing the car park at Times Square so as to encourage the public to use public transport; and

(i) Mr POON Ping-hong said that the northbound traffic of Aberdeen had serious congestion problem, which had even affected the southbound traffic. He pointed out that CTB Route No. 72 during the peak hours in the afternoon departed at low frequency, which had resulted in a large number of passengers waiting at the bus stops and increased the risk of virus spread. He suggested that the bus companies should increase the frequency to divert the passengers.

14. The Chairman invited the representatives of the relevant department and the bus companies to respond to members’ enquiries.

15. Mr Kenneth HON responded that TD would adopt a benchmark of less than 80% of the projected bus occupancy during peak hours as one of considerations in scrutinizing the bus companies’ applications. TD would monitor the bus services regularly and, with the exception of certain routes with low utilisation after 9 p.m., other bus routes had resumed normal services. In response to the service issue of

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CTB Route No. 592 in June 2020 mentioned by Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH, TD had conducted survey in late June 2020 to monitor the service which, in general, was found normal. He believed that the situation mentioned by members were only individual cases.

16. Mr Dennis LO supplemented that TD would adjust the frequencies based on the consideration of avoiding overcrowded bus compartments. According to past experience, the headway intervals during peak periods and off-peak periods after service adjustments would not be lengthened by more than 5 minutes. As for the headway intervals after 9 p.m., it would not be lengthened by more than 10 minutes. TD would continue to make reference to the passenger demand and occupancy rates and adjust the bus service levels as appropriate. Besides, TD had conducted a site inspection of the frequency of CTB Route No. 72 and found that the frequency of that route was normal with an average occupancy rates of 50 to 60%. The service level was sufficient to meet the passenger demand during the peak hours in the afternoon. He believed that the lost trips of CTB Route No. 72 as mentioned by Mr POON Ping-hong were individual cases and affected by traffic congestion. TD would continue to monitor the service level of different bus routes and make appropriate service adjustments.

17. Mr Kevin LI gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) owing to the epidemic, the patronage of the routes operated by the bus companies had dropped significantly by 30 to 40% in March and April 2020 and so needed to adjust the frequencies of the various routes. Although the overall patronage had not resumed to the level before the epidemic, the various routes had generally resumed services to original level. The bus companies would make frequency adjustments having regard to the development of the epidemic and the patronage of the various routes in different time slots; and

(b) the mobile app would display the expected bus arrival time according to the scheduled time and past data. But in case of unexpected situation, the information of the mobile app could only be updated based on the real time information input by bus regulators. In case the bus regulators were busy making service redeployment and were 9

unable to update the information in time, the system could only make estimation according to the scheduled time, which might not reflect the actual situation. The bus companies would continue to improve the mobile app with a view to providing the passengers with more transport information.

18. Mr Albert LEUNG said that with the exception of certain routes with low usage after 9 p.m., the frequencies of most routes had generally resumed to the level before the epidemic. The low frequency cases of certain routes might be due to unexpected incidents. The bus companies would give responses to individual members after the meeting. Moreover, he said that the bus companies had endeavoured to improve the mobile app so as to enhance the accuracy of expected bus arrival time. But bus frequencies would be affected by unexpected road conditions. Therefore the bus regulators had to make real time service redeployment having regard to the actual traffic condition so as to minimise the impacts on the passengers.

19. Mr Philip WONG responded that the accuracy of the mobile app would be affected by the actual road conditions and required updating by the bus regulators. The bus companies would follow up the services of CTB Route No. 592 after the meeting.

20. Ms LI Shee-lin said that the bus companies should not put the blame of delayed trips completely on unexpected situation such as traffic congestion and sickness of bus regulators. She wished to know whether the delayed trips were due to manpower shortage of the bus companies or other reasons. Besides, she enquired whether TD and the bus companies would adopt any contingency measures in response to the third wave of epidemic.

21. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa requested TD to respond to his enquiry concerning the Bypass.

22. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin said that TD had discussed the traffic problems caused by the parking concessions offered by Times Square with the representatives of the shopping centre. The shopping centre would deploy additional manpower and seek assistance from the Police to control the local traffic. He would relay members’ 10

comments on the traffic conditions of Wan Chai District to the relevant section. He further said that TD could not draw a conclusion for the time being that the Bypass could help reduce the number of closures of Aberdeen Tunnel. TD would continue to collect data and evaluate the impacts of the Bypass on the traffic in the neighbouring districts.

23. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa urged TD to conduct a study on the Bypass as soon as possible and then submit the report to the Committee for reference.

24. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin said that he would provide members with the supplementary information after the meeting.

25. The Chairman concluded that as members wished to know more about the mechanism of the bus companies and TD for adjusting bus frequencies, he urged TD and the bus companies to provide members with the information after the meeting. He suggested that Times Square deploy additional manpower to control the vehicular flow near the shopping centre to avoid tailing back of the traffic queue. Regarding the mobile app, he hoped that the bus companies would explore ways to enhance its accuracy. Moreover, he asked TD to provide data of the Bypass for members’ reference after the meeting.

(Post-meeting note: When examining the bus companies’ application for service adjustment, TD will take into account factors such as the extent of patronage drop of the routes concerned, occupancy (in particular during peak hours), impact of the proposed service adjustments on the waiting time, bus resources deployment and public acceptability to the proposed frequency adjustment etc. Whereas for bus companies, NWFB and Citybus have been reviewing change of passenger demand during the period of epidemic, then submitting applications to TD for temporary frequency adjustment subject to passenger demand of individual routes at various time periods, and implementing these temporary measures with approval by TD. Responses from bus companies regarding the complaints on lost trips made by TTC members are given at Annex 1.

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For the data of the Bypass, TD was consolidating the information and anticipated to provide the information afterwards.)

26. Mr YIM Chun-ho enquired whether the bus companies could increase human resources to tackle the problem of los trips and whether they would provide frontline bus regulators with suitable support.

27. The Chairman said that the bus companies had cut their human resources in the light of the reduced patronage and income. This had resulted in low bus frequencies and service quality, forcing passengers to change to other means of transport. He enquired whether the bus companies had any solution to break this vicious cycle.

28. Mr Albert LEUNG responded that the bus companies had no intention to put the blame of lost trips on their frontline staff. He stressed that the lost trips were mostly due to unexpected factors. Therefore, even if the bus frequencies were resumed to the level before the epidemic, the lost trip situation might still occur. He pointed out that the bus regulators were responsible for updating the information of the mobile app in case of any unexpected situation to enable the system to re-estimate the bus arrival time. The bus companies would continue to explore improvement options to help frontline bus regulators update the information as quickly as possible.

29. Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany hoped that Government Departments and the bus companies would strengthen the bus services between 12 noon and 1 p.m. to cope with the recent class resumption. She further said that the absence of clearly demarcated queue lines at the bus stops along Shek Pai Wan Road and Aberdeen Main Road had resulted in serious problem of queue-jumping. Some passengers even had to wait for two to three departures before they could board a bus. She hoped that the bus companies could adjust the bus frequencies having regard to the situation of individual areas after the normal frequencies were resumed.

30. Mr Albert LEUNG responded that the bus companies would adjust bus frequencies according to the patronage during the epidemic and would consider

12 increasing the frequencies during the after-school peak hour, such as for Route No. 94A, so as to divert the student passenger flow.

Agenda Item 3: Traffic Problems Caused by Fallen Trees and Tree Maintenance (Item raised by Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael) (TTC Paper No. 21/2020)

31. The Chairman welcomed the following representatives to the meeting:

(a) Mr William YAU, Senior Landscape Architect/VM(U&Is) of Highways Department (HyD); (b) Mr AU YEUNG Wai-ming, Deputy District Leisure Manager (District Support) Southern of Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD); and (c) Ms WAI Mei-ling, Leisure Manager (Tree) Hong Kong West of LCSD.

32. The Chairman invited Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael to briefly introduce the agenda item.

33. Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael briefed members on the agenda item as follows:

(a) given the narrow roads in Shek O and Stanley, in case of tree maintenance work or tree failure at individual locations, the road section concerned had to be converted into one-lane two-way traffic which would result in traffic congestion in the area;

(b) currently there was no dedicated department responsible for co-ordinating tree management work. In the written reply, the relevant department advised members to report emergency tree failure by calling 1823. But he said that the 1823 hotline was not efficient;

(c) he pointed out that despite the occurrence of tree failure incidents causing casualties in the Southern District, the relevant departments

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had neither proposed any improvement measures nor put in place any tree inspection mechanism; and

(d) he queried why only 72 trees in the Southern District were recorded in the Tree Register. In anticipation of more tree failures during the typhoon season, he urged the departments concerned to tackle the problem seriously.

34. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries.

35. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun pointed out that most trees in the Southern District had not been recorded in the Tree Register. He considered it necessary to set up a dedicated department responsible for tree management. He said that he received HyD’s notification about the tree maintenance work carried out in the Bays Area on 30 June and 3 July 2020 only one day before the dates of works. He hoped that HyD would notify him as early as possible in future so that he could disseminate the news to the residents. Besides, he also enquired whether the department concerned could change the time of tree maintenance to non-peak hours in the evening so as to reduce the impacts caused to the traffic.

36. Mr William YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) HyD would inspect the vegetation under its purview at least once every six months. In addition, HyD would also conduct tree risk assessment exercise in accordance with the guidelines of the Tree Management Office (TMO) once a year. Upon discovering trees with health problems, causing obstruction or safety concern to the road traffic, HyD would arrange for tree maintenance after evaluating the situation;

(b) in the wake of the tree failure incident at Repulse Bay Road on 9 June 2020, HyD had inspected the trees at the relevant location on the next day and had immediately asked the contractor to carry out emergency tree maintenance work upon obtaining police’s permission and before the typhoon hit Hong Kong (i.e. 13 June 2020). HyD apologised for the traffic congestion caused by the tree maintenance work; and

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(c) regarding the tree maintenance work carried out in the Bays Area on 30 June and 3 July 2020, HyD had notified the member concerned as soon as possible after the traffic section of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) consented to the work. HyD would work out an improved option with the relevant department so that members could be notified as early as possible before any tree maintenance work in future.

37. The Chairman enquired about the time required by the Police to process an application for tree maintenance work.

38. Mr YONG Kwok-chung gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) on receiving an application for temporary traffic control under non-emergency situation, Traffic Hong Kong Island of HKPF would consult the views of the Transport Department and the relevant divisional police station on the impacts of the road works on the local traffic. Since HKPF had to take into consideration other factors that would affect the local traffic, it would issue a permit to the contractor only when the works were about to commence; and

(b) in case of emergency situation such as tree failure or ground subsidence, HKPF would respect the professional comments of the relevant departments and approve the reinstatement work applications as quickly as possible. Normally, HKPF would deploy officers to direct the traffic at the scene. It would also disseminate news about temporary road closure to the public via the media.

39. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Ms LI Shee-lin was pleased to learn that the departments concerned had commenced preventive tree management work before the typhoon season. She enquired whether HyD could complete the work on time before the commencement of the rainy and typhoon season;

(b) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN thanked HyD for swiftly trimming trees that had caused obstruction to the traffic. He further said that when super

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typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong, a number of Government departments including HKPF joined hands to clear up fallen trees on the roads. But since the departments did not have enough chainsaws at that time, it was difficult for them to clear up the fallen trees. He enquired whether the departments concerned had procured enough chainsaws after the onslaught of Mangkhut;

(c) Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael enquired why HyD did not carry out tree maintenance work in the aftermath of the tree failure that happened on 9 June 2020 until 13 June (Saturday). He further pointed out that as the traffic in Stanley was particularly busy during weekends, the tree maintenance work had great impacts on the travel of the residents. Besides, he enquired about the feasibility of HyD’s carrying out tree maintenance in the evening and hoped that the departments concerned could improve the tree maintenance system;

(d) Mr YIM Chun-ho enquired why HyD could not carry out tree maintenance in the evening and whether HyD would consider conducting a major tree inspection and maintenance before the typhoon season. Citing the example of the tree maintenance work in Wah Fu Estate, he said that the Tree Management and Horticulture Sub-section of the Housing Department would conduct a comprehensive inspection for the trees inside the housing estate every year and cut tree branches and trunks that caused obstruction to the carriageway. He advised HyD to consider according priority to the tree maintenance work on certain narrow roads in the Southern District before the typhoon season in order to reduce the occurrences of tree failures that would affect the traffic;

(e) Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said that some trees in Ap Lei Chau had obstructed the sight of bus captains. She advised HyD to trim the trees on pavements and adjacent to bus stops in the Southern District before the typhoon season; and

(f) Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun enquired about the number of professional arborists in TMO responsible for handling tree cases in the Southern District.

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40. Mr William YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) HyD had included the management and inspection of trees as parts of its regular duties since 2004. It had also carried out tree management work on a regular basis in the Southern District. In case any trees in the district posed danger to passers-by, HyD would take emergency measures to protect the pedestrians’ safety;

(b) HyD kept an open mind on carrying out evening tree maintenance work in the Southern District although it had not done so before. But it also had to take factors such as noise, safety and work efficiency into consideration. When carrying out tree maintenance, HyD would endeavour to complete the work as soon as possible and minimise the impacts on the traffic;

(c) the officers of HyD and his contractor’s staff responsible for tree inspection were all qualified and experienced professionals. They were also equipped with adequate equipment for tree inspection and maintenance; and

(d) given the scale of the tree maintenance work carried out at Repulse Bay Road on 13 June 2020, it took some time for the contractor to deploy various types of large equipment. HyD could commence works only after the Police had completed the traffic impact assessment. HyD had disseminated the news at the earliest time as they could. He appealed for members’ understanding.

41. Two members raised enquiries and comments on the subject again, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael emphasised the importance of preventing tree failures and understood that the enactment of legislation on trees did not fall within HyD’s purview. As the HyD representative said that HyD would avoid carrying out tree maintenance work during peak hours, he could not understand why HyD had arranged to carry out the work during the peak hours on Saturday. He further enquired whether HyD had carried out evening tree maintenance work in the Southern District before; and 17

(b) expressing concern over the number of HyD staff responsible for tree maintenance, Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that if HyD had sufficient manpower, it could expand the scope of tree inspection and take corresponding actions to handle problematic trees.

42. In response to Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael’s enquiry, the Chairman said that HyD had replied that it had not carried out evening tree maintenance work in the Southern District before. Given the scale of the tree maintenance work on 13 June, it took some time for HyD to make corresponding arrangements and so could only carry out the work on Saturday. Moreover, he suggested that HyD should consider arranging for evening tree maintenance work in the Southern District, and respond to a member’s enquiry about the manpower of TMO.

43. Mr William YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) HyD noted members’ comments on the tree maintenance work carried out on 13 June. But since a typhoon was approaching and HyD had endeavoured to arrange the emergency operation and obtain Police’s permission in order to complete the works before the typhoon’s arrival (i.e. Saturday, 13 June 2020) . He appealed for members’ understanding;

(b) HyD would consider carrying out tree maintenance work with a smaller scale in the evening;

(c) HyD would not cut trees arbitrarily and would follow TMO’s instructions when carrying out tree maintenance work, which could only be carried out after internal audit. Members and local residents were welcome to give advice on the tree maintenance work and suggest any suitable location for tree planting; and

(d) HyD’s tree management work was undertaken by qualified and experienced arborists and tree climbers.

44. Mr HO Chun-hin responded that HKPF would arrange for tree-cutting training for police officers before the rainy season, while its patrolling vehicles would 18 also be equipped with tree-cutting tools so that police officers could assist in clearing up fallen trees under emergency situation. In case of non-emergency situation, the fallen trees would be handled by other dedicated departments.

45. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun asked HyD to provide the number of staff engaging in tree maintenance after the meeting.

46. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN asked HyD and LCSD to provide the number of staff responsible for tree management and maintenance as well as the number of vehicles equipped with tree maintenance tools. He pointed out that the fallen trees were cleared up slowly in the aftermath of Mangkhut because the various departments were not equipped with adequate equipment.

47. The Chairman concluded that in view of the large number of trees in the Southern District, members were encouraged to provide the locations of trees which required trimming after the meeting for follow-up by the relevant departments. The Chairman asked HyD to provide the details of its tree maintenance programme for the Southern District and information such as the number of staff responsible for tree management as well as the number of vehicles equipped with tree maintenance tools after the meeting.

(Post-meeting note: HyD and LCSD have provided the supplementary information, with details set out at Annex 2 and 3 respectively.)

Agenda Item 4: Concerns over the Vehicular Ingress and Egress of Queen Mary Hospital’s New Block (Item raised by Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN) (TTC Paper No. 22/2020)

48. The Chairman welcomed the following representatives to the meeting:

(a) Mr Colin FONG, Senior Project Manager 424, Architectural Services Department (ArchSD); (b) Ms Louisa TSANG, Associate Director, MVA Asia Limited;

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(c) Mrs Irene CHENG, Senior Manager (Capital Projects), Hospital Authority (HA); (d) Ms Carmen CHAN, Manager (Capital Projects), HA; (e) Dr K.H. CHAN, Chief Manager, Planning and Commissioning, Hong Kong West Cluster (HKWC), HA; (f) Ms Pinky MAK, Senior Hospital Manager (Planning & Commissioning Section), Queen Mary Hospital (QMH); and (g) Ms Mabel KWONG, Public and Community Relations Officer, HKWC, HA.

49. The Chairman invited Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN to briefly introduce the agenda item.

50. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN, with the aid of PowerPoint presentation (PowerPoint 1), briefed members on the agenda item as follows:

(a) when HA submitted a design drawing of the vehicular ingress and egress of QMH’s New Block in 2014, the then Committee had expressed concerns over the design. In response to members’ comments, ArchSD amended the design in 2015 so that the vehicles could go past the ingress/egress at a smaller turning angle. Thereafter, SDC had continued to give views on the design of the vehicular ingress/egress to HA and the relevant departments;

(b) according to the current final design, vehicles going to and from QMH had to come to a full stop and then make a 90-degree turn to go past the ingress/egress. The design was absolutely undesirable since the ingress/egress was located on Pok Fu Lam Road with heavy traffic;

(c) he had suggested using the existing bus lay-by as the vehicular ingress/egress. However, as HA had only made some minor adjustments to the turning angle at the vehicular ingress/egress, it would give rise to problems such as insufficient visibility of road users; and

(d) he requested HA and ArchSD to redesign the vehicular ingress/egress, including making good use of the existing bus lay-by and amending the means of escape so as to enhance traffic safety. He also requested 20

HA to give a written reply to the 16 questions in his agenda item and provide the Committee with the report of the latest traffic impact assessment (TIA). Besides, he asked the representative of the Transport Department (TD) to respond whether the 90-degree turn under the current design was safer than the previous 30-degree turn.

51. The Chairman invited the HA representatives to respond and added that it was not understandable that HA had not responded to the questions raised in member’s agenda item.

52. Dr K.H. CHAN thanked members for their comments and gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) HA had been reporting the redevelopment of QMH to SDC on a regular basis but there was some delay this year owing to the epidemic. He pointed out that QMH had a history of over 80 years. As it was the largest hospital in HKWC, several kinds of important operations would be performed in QMH. Owing to insufficient space of the existing hospital, there was a great demand for space in the redevelopment project;

(b) the existing main access to and from QMH often suffered from traffic congestion during peak hours. In this connection, HA planned to move the accident and emergency (A&E) department to the 1st floor of the New Block and use part of the floor area of the four basement levels as the vehicular access so that ambulances could reach the A&E department directly;

(c) HA would make optimal use of the floor area and provide enhanced services for the patients, including widening the hospital beds and operation theatres. While taking note of Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN’s comments on the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block, he pointed out that as the hospital needed to prioritise the spatial planning for various medical facilities, the vehicular access design had to take into account the overall layout of the New Block;

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(d) the proposed vehicular access was mainly designed to be used by ambulances. According to HA’s estimate, the vehicular access was used by around 100 to 120 ambulance trips every day. In response to Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN’s comments, ArchSD had amended the skew angle of the vehicular ingress/egress so as to enhance traffic safety;

(e) in response to member’s suggestion of changing the location of the ground level staircases, he said that it might affect the means of escape and had to be reviewed by designers. HA would endeavour to enhance the management of traffic safety at the vehicular ingress/egress; and

(f) as the overall design concept of the vehicular ingress/egress was quite complicated, HA planned to explain to members direct at the meeting and so did not give a written reply to the questions raised by members. If necessary, HA could provide a supplementary reply after the meeting. He further said that the design was already improved after the adjustment of skew angle of the vehicular ingress/egress. HA would continue to optimise the design so as to ensure road safety.

53. The Chairman thanked Dr K.H. CHAN for his detailed response and hoped that HA could provide a supplementary written reply after the meeting for record purpose. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries.

54. Mr LO Kin-hei believed that before the commencement of works for the New Block, there was still room for HA to change the locations of the various facilities so as to allay members’ concerns. He advised the relevant department to consider adding a separate traffic lane at the bus stop and amending the design of the pavement to enable vehicles to go into the New Block directly.

55. In response to Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN’s enquiry, Mr Gary LEUNG said that in case of a smaller turning angle, vehicles could depart from the main traffic lane at a higher speed, whereas under the current design of 90-degree turn, vehicles had to reduce their speeds before entering the New Block. Considering solely from the perspective of turning angles, TD was of the view that the design in 2015 was more

22 desirable. However, he understood that HA had to take into consideration various factors when designing the New Block.

56. The Chairman enquired about the works progress to see if the relevant departments could make amendments according to members’ comments.

57. Mr Colin FONG gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) given the cramped space of the works site, ArchSD and the consultant had made every effort to meet the various design requirements. Having noted members’ concerns over the traffic safety at the ingress/egress of the New Block, ArchSD would optimise the design wherever possible to ensure smooth access of vehicles to and from the New Block and avoid conflicts between these vehicles with vehicles running on the fast lane; and

(b) to enhance traffic safety, ArchSD was considering extending the double white lines and adding direction signs in front of the New Block to facilitate early selection of lanes by motorists. Members were welcome to give advice on the design.

58. The Chairman said that according to his understanding, ArchSD could only make minor amendments to the existing design.

59. Mr Colin FONG responded that ArchSD and the consultant had, given the limited space, made every effort to improve the design of the vehicular ingress/egress so as to satisfy the demand for traffic safety but ArchSD could not make further structural amendments to the design of the New Block.

60. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr YIM Chun-ho enquired whether ambulances would go to and from the A&E department via the new vehicular ingress/egress. He said that under the new design, the trip time of Southern District residents going to the A&E department by ambulance would increase.

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Moreover, as the ambulances had to detour around four basement levels, it might add to the pressure of the ambulancemen. He enquired whether HA or ArchSD would consider widening the existing access road leading to QMH. He also wished to know whether ambulances leaving the A&E department could use the old access after the New Block was commissioned;

(b) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that committee members agreed that an ingress/egress for ambulances should be added on Pok Fu Lam Road. However, the design should take traffic safety into account. He thus requested the relevant departments to redesign the vehicular ingress/egress so as to meet the public expectation for the New Block. He cast doubt on HA’s claim that the new vehicular ingress/egress was mainly used by ambulances and said that other vehicles would also use the carriageway. He was disappointed at HA’s attempt to mislead other members. Moreover, he requested HA to reply to the 16 questions listed in his agenda item and submit the latest TIA report and relevant data for further discussion with members after the meeting;

(c) the Chairman said that the relevant departments should consult members’ views before planning for or commencing the project and make corresponding amendments in the light of members’ suggestions rather than report the progress to members after the commencement of the project. While the design of the New Block of QMH had been finalised, he wished to know how the relevant departments would handle the case given that some members did not accept the design;

(d) Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN’s dissatisfaction was understandable. He enquired about the reason why ArchSD could not amend the design and hoped that ArchSD could propose a solution so that members’ concerns could be allayed and members could continue discussing the agenda item;

(e) quoting Dr K.H. CHAN’s response, the Chairman said that member’s suggestion might result in reduction of hospital beds. He enquired whether HA could provide the specific data so as to strike a proper balance between the number of hospital beds and the safety of the vehicular ingress/egress; and

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(f) concurring with Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN’s comments, Ms CHAN Yan-yi said that apart from ambulances, other vehicles would also use the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block. She enquired whether HA would collect data about the number of various types of vehicles going to and from QMH and advised HA to estimate the increased traffic flow after the commissioning of the New Block.

61. Dr K.H. CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block of QMH was mainly used by ambulances. Non-emergency ambulances taking patients back to homes for the elderly and their residences would leave the hospital via the existing main access road;

(b) the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block would also be used by refuse collection vehicles, vehicles transporting medical waste, lorries transporting meals and other goods vehicles. HA expected that around 20 trips of such vehicles would access the ingress/egress every day;

(c) the New Block mainly provided clinical services with around 800 beds. Most of the space would be used for medical purposes. Therefore, only 40 parking spaces would be provided in the car park of the New Block. Besides, QMH would forbid taxis and minibuses to use the vehicular access of the New Block. To gain access to and from the hospital, these vehicles had to use the existing main access road. Ambulances heading from the Southern District to the New Block would continue to go to and from QMH via the main track of Pok Fu Lam Road;

(d) the area on the bottom left-hand corner of the layout given at Annex 2 of HA’s written response was the fire escape. Any modifications made to this area would have great impacts on the New Block; and

(e) he emphasised that the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block was mainly used by vehicles providing emergency services. HA estimated that the vehicular access of the New Block would be used by around

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100 to 120 ambulance trips every day, while the total number of trips of vehicles going via the vehicular access would be within 200 every day. The overall vehicular flow was not high. The traffic consultant of QMH had also taken corresponding measures to ensure traffic safety.

62. Mr Colin FONG responded that the 30-storey New Block had imposed significant loading on structure and so its structural member size and density have to meet with the design requirements. If vehicles were arranged to enter the New Block from the existing bus stop, then means of escape, electricity and water supplies could not be provided for the area facing Pok Fu Lam Road. To cater for the demand of QMH, ArchSD had made optimal use of the existing floor area wherever possible and so there was little room for amendments. ArchSD had also made every effort to optimise the design of the ingress/egress and reserve sufficient room for the turn there.

63. The Chairman enquired whether ArchSD could provide a design that complied with members’ requests.

64. Mr Colin FONG responded that ArchSD had to work under great limitations when designing the New Block in order to meet the medical demands of QMH. The existing design was the best solution provided by ArchSD. ArchSD would continue to consider enhancing the design of the ingress/egress and taking measures such as adding signs on Pok Fu Lam Road so as to enhance road safety.

65. Mr YIM Chun-ho quoted HA as saying that ambulances from the Southern District would go to and from the hospital via the original access. In view of this, he enquired whether HA still needed to provide a vehicular access for the exclusive use of ambulances in the New Block, which would reduce the floor area available for medical use. He further advised HA to study the feasibility of taking patients to the A&E department by lift to make more effective use of the floor area of the New Block and save ambulances from wasting time detouring around the multi-storey car park.

66. Mr LO Kin-hei cast doubt on ArchSD’s claim that it could not amend the design because it had to take the structural requirement of the New Block into account.

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He considered that it was because the redevelopment project was pressed for time that ArchSD said there was no room for amendments. He was perplexed about ArchSD’s arrangement of using part of the floor area of four basement levels for constructing the vehicular access. He enquired why ArchSD did not consider adding a lift for the exclusive use of taking patients to the A&E department directly.

67. Dr K.H. CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) according to the established standards of QMH, ambulances would provide point-to-point transport service and take patients to the A&E department directly. The ambulancemen would also provide assistance during the transportation. This arrangement was safer than taking the patients to the A&E department by lift as suggested by members;

(b) the redevelopment of QMH commenced in 2018 and was expected to complete in 2024. Given the stringent time frame and the special medical demands of QMH, the amendments proposed by members might have great impacts on the design of the New Block; and

(c) upon commissioning of the new A&E department, ambulances would still leave QMH via the main access road. Since that road was rather congested, QMH decided to add an access to be used by emergency vehicles in the design.

68. The Chairman enquired whether ArchSD was unable to work out a new design because of the limited project time.

69. Mr Colin FONG responded that ArchSD had engaged a contractor to design and implement the project in 2018. The foundation works had already commenced while detailed layout design was also underway. ArchSD expected to complete the project in 2024 as requested by QMH. He further said that any major modifications to the design of the New Block at the current stage would have great impacts on the foundation, overall structure of the New Block, floor layout as well as the completion date of the project. He added that compared with the general buildings, hospitals had higher requirements for the electrical and mechanical facilities as well as the

27 means of escape. ArchSD thus encountered great challenges when designing the New Block and had made every effort to meet the operation needs of QMH.

70. The Chairman understood that ArchSD had an urgent need for completing the project within the anticipated time frame but he pointed out that if ArchSD was willing to spend a few more months’ time working out a new design, it could prevent any potential loophole in the original design, which was a more desirable arrangement.

71. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr YIM Chun-ho enquired whether QMH had any contingency measures to cope with any unexpected incident that occurred when an ambulance was using the new vehicular access. Expecting that the ambulances in future would be larger in size, he wished to know whether QMH had considered the aforesaid factor when designing the vehicular access. Since the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block was located on a road with heavy traffic, he enquired whether QMH would reserve space for a guard kiosk or vehicle gate. Moreover, he pointed out that as the vehicular ingress/egress of the New Block was close to the bus stop, there was a chance that passengers boarding/alighting buses might block the road and make it difficult for ambulances to enter the hospital;

(b) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that SDC had given advice on the design of the vehicular access over the years. The suggestions put forth by fellow members at this meeting were not new suggestions. The relevant departments were duty-bound to amend the design of the New Block according to members’ suggestions. Moreover, he also requested the relevant department to provide the latest TIA report;

(c) Mr TSUI Yuen-wa said that SDC had been maintaining a good relationship with HA. However, HA had commenced the redevelopment project without adequately communicating with members beforehand this time. He was of the view that the relevant departments should give a detailed account of the project to the

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Committee in a timely manner so that members could learn about the details as early as possible. It should not explain to members only after the design had been completed or the project had commenced. As a result, only limited adjustments could be made to the project and members’ advice could not be accepted; and

(d) Mr LO Kin-hei cast doubt on HA’s claim that it was difficult to transport patients by lift. He considered it a proper practice that the relevant department should communicate with members before commencing the project. He could not understand why the communication between the relevant departments and SDC had become ineffective this time.

72. The Chairman invited the HA representatives to respond.

73. Dr K.H. CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) after obtaining support from SDC in 2018, HA was granted an allocation of $13.5 billion by the Legislative Council for implementing the QMH redevelopment project. It then conducted the tendering exercise and commenced the project immediately. HA would adopt members’ comments wherever possible. However, in view of Hong Kong’ pressing need for the medical services, HA had to complete the redevelopment project as scheduled. If it amended the project design at the current stage, it would have to face problems such as contractors’ compensation claim and project delay;

(b) QMH had a contingency plan to cope with any incident that occurred when an ambulance was using the new vehicular access. In response to a member’s suggestion of taking patients to the A&E department by lift, he said that in general QMH would arrange for ambulances to take a patient directly to the floor where the A&E department was located so as to reduce the number of times of moving the patients. This practice was particularly important when handling cases of Novel Coronavirus 2019; and

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(c) HA thanked members for their comments and would endeavour to complete the redevelopment of QMH in a proper way but he reiterated that there was great limitation in implementing the project.

74. Ms Louisa TSANG responded that an ambulance was 6.2 m in length. The current design had taken the size of ambulances into account.

75. The Chairman said that since the redevelopment project had commenced, the relevant department said that any amendment to the design might lead to problems such as compensation claim and project delay. However, he pointed out that since the redevelopment of a hospital was a long-term development project, the relevant departments should consider the design from a holistic point of view. He suggested discussing the improvement options with ArchSD and HA by holding a workshop after the meeting.

76. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun hoped that the relevant departments would consult members’ views before commencing any project in future.

77. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN agreed with the Chairman’s suggestion of holding a workshop and requested HA to provide a written response to the 16 questions raised by him, a complete TIA report, an amended project design and a traffic management plan before the workshop.

78. Mr YIM Chun-ho hoped that HA would also introduce the redevelopment project for QMH in the workshop.

79. The Chairman enquired whether the Secretariat could ask HA to make ready the information requested by members prior to the workshop.

80. Miss Sum CHENG responded that the Secretariat would ask HA and ArchSD to provide the relevant information and follow up with the relevant departments on the workshop arrangements.

81. In closing, the Chairman asked the relevant departments to provide the relevant information as soon as possible. 30

(Post-meeting note: The relevant departments have held the workshop on 4 September 2020.)

(Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo left the meeting at 4:45 p.m.)

Agenda Item 5: Proposed Motion on Requesting Compulsory Implementation of the “School Bus Only” Policy in the International Schools of Southern District (Motion raised by Mr TSUI Yuen-wa) (TTC Paper No. 23/2020)

82. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had invited the Education Bureau (EDB) to deploy a representative to attend the meeting and participate in the discussion of this agenda item. But EDB said that it was unable to deploy a representative. The Chairman invited Mr TSUI Yuen-wa to briefly introduce the motion.

83. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa briefed members on the motion as follows:

(a) SDC had requested EDB to make it mandatory to implement the “school bus only” policy (the policy) in international schools in the Southern District. The policy was now supported by three international schools in the district. According to past experiences, the policy could effectively improve the local traffic conditions;

(b) there were three international schools in Wong Chuk Hang providing around 4 000 school places. Under the assumption that around 20 to 30% of students of those schools went to school by private cars, there would be around 1 000 private cars going into Wong Chuk Hang during the periods before and after school; and

(c) he queried why EDB had not made efforts to extend the policy to other international schools in the district so as to reduce the number of private cars and the associated traffic problems at source. He pointed out that as the relevant bureau/department only encouraged the international schools to implement the policy without making it 31

mandatory, the local traffic problems generated by private cars going to and from international schools could not be resolved at present. He hoped that the Committee could endorse the motion and request EDB to implement the policy on a mandatory basis in the district.

84. With the aid of photos and video, Mr YIM Chun-ho supplemented as follows:

(a) the traffic queue of private cars outside Kellett School in Wah Fu Estate extended along Wah King Street. Some cars were even parked at the entry/exit point of Pok Fu Lam Terrace car park, causing inconvenience to the residents;

(b) the video showed that an ambulance obstructed by private carts had to go in the opposite direction of the traffic, while GMB Route Nos. 63 and 63A that went past the location were often obstructed by the traffic queue during the periods before and after school; and

(c) he considered it an appropriate practice that Kellett School had arranged for parents to take their kids to and from school by private cars at different time slots according to the grades and family names of the kids. But since EDB had not adopted mandatory measures, the school could hardly improve the traffic conditions on its own. He said that the vacant land next to Kellett School had been resumed and would become a works site of Wah Fu Estate Redevelopment. He expected that the traffic conditions during the Redevelopment would further deteriorate. If EDB did not implement the policy on a mandatory basis, it would be difficult to resolve the local traffic problems.

85. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries.

86. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that an international school in Nam Wan had brought about traffic problems before. During

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redevelopment of the school, he had reached a consensus with the school. It was agreed that the school kids were only allowed to use school buses. As a result, the traffic condition of the area was improved. He said that even if an international school was willing, it was difficult for the school to implement the policy if the parents opposed the policy. He thus pointed out that the problem had to be resolved by legislation;

(b) in support of the motion, Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael said that residents in Tai Tam had from time to time complained that illegal parking of vehicles taking kids to and from the international school nearby had affected other road users. He suggested stepping up communication with the international school and adding railings at the relevant locations to prevent parking of vehicles on the pavements;

(c) Mr CHAN Ping-yeung said that it was undesirable that EDB had failed to deploy a representative to the meeting to participate in the discussion of this agenda item. He requested that EDB’s absence from the meeting be recorded;

(d) Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany said that the Direct Subsidy Scheme school in Tin Wan was of similar nature to the international school in the area. Upon its establishment, the former had undertaken to implement the policy and issue warnings to students and parents violating the policy. She agreed with members’ suggestion of imposing mandatory control on private cars going to and from international schools in the district and supported the motion;

(e) Mr YU Chun-hei, James said that many parents of the international kindergarten in South Horizons East also took their kids to and from the school by private cars and affected the local traffic. Despite the active efforts made by the South Horizons management office in tackling the problem, the problem had not been completely resolved yet. He agreed that it was necessary to make it mandatory to implement the policy in international schools in the Southern District. The problem could not be resolved solely by the efforts of the schools, SDC members or residents’ organisations;

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(f) Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus said some residents had told him that private cars going to and from international schools had affected the frequencies of some minibuses in the district. He considered that compulsory implementation of the policy in international schools in the Southern District was necessary so as to stabilise the public transport services in the district. Besides, he hoped that EDB would deploy representatives to attend meetings and participate in discussion of issues related to the bureau in future;

(g) Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH supported compulsory implementation of the policy in international schools in the Southern District. Citing the example of the Harbour School in Ap Lei Chau Estate, she said that the policy had achieved remarkable results. She further said that many private cars going to and from international schools in the district had affected the road traffic of the Southern District. She thus hoped that EDB and the Transport Department (TD) could discuss how to implement the policy with the schools;

(h) in support of the motion, Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that currently when considering town planning applications relating to international schools, TD did not request the schools to implement the policy. He had requested the ISF Academy to implement the policy before. But his suggestion was rejected owing to objections by different parties. He suggested that the Secretariat send a letter to TD and EDB after the meeting requesting the relevant bureau/department to give a response on the implementation of the policy in the district;

(i) Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael supplemented that traffic congestion occurred at Pak Pat Shan Road and Red Hill Road during the periods before and after school. He said that many years ago an ambulance failed to arrive at Big Wave Bay in time for a rescue action owing to traffic congestion and resulted in serious casualties. The incident showed that the traffic problems caused by international schools were closely related to the community security. The relevant bureau/department should thus resolve the problems properly;

(j) in support of the motion, Ms LI Shee-lin said that the traffic queues comprising private cars going to and from international schools had

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caused obstruction to the public. She enquired whether TD had taken the initiative to contact the schools and follow up the aforesaid problems. Besides, she also wished to know the manpower deployed by the Police for tackling the traffic problems as well as the Police’s views on the implementation of the policy;

(k) Mr TSUI Yuen-wa said that in its written reply, EDB had only provided some general data about the use of school buses by international school students in the district. He hoped that EDB would provide specific information about the use of school buses by the students of the various international schools in the district after the meeting. He said that thanks to the active follow-up actions taken by SDC, the Singapore International School had agreed to implement the policy. Moreover, he hoped that the relevant bureau/department and fellow members could take all opportunities to request other international schools in the Southern District to implement the policy. He also requested TD to tie in with SDC’s efforts wherever possible and take forward the implementation of the policy in the district; and

(l) Mr YIM Chun-ho hoped that TD could give advice on compulsory implementation of the policy in the district to EDB. He pointed out that the Police had once helped disperse the private cars parked outside the international school at Wah King Street. But the frequency of such enforcement actions had decreased in the past year. He advised the Police to step up enforcement and take short-term policies to improve the traffic conditions.

87. The Chairman invited the representatives of TD and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) to respond.

88. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that TD would implement traffic improvement measures wherever practicable. He further said that adding railings or double yellow lines in the vicinity of the international school in Tai Tam might further extend the traffic queue and aggravate the traffic congestion. TD had to collect more data for analysis.

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89. Mr HO Chun-hin responded that the Police supported all measures conducive to improving the traffic conditions, but had to discuss the implementation details with the relevant stakeholders. He further said that the traffic team under the Police would arrange for staff members to divert the traffic during the period before school and would deploy traffic wardens and uniformed police officers to give assistance in different districts having regard to the situation. But given the limited manpower, it was impossible for the Police to go to every international school to take enforcement actions. He pointed out that the schools had also taken different measures according to the actual conditions, including arranging different school hours for different grades, employing people to divert the traffic on their own and implementing the policy on a mandatory basis. The Police would divert the vehicular flow in collaboration with TD by implementing traffic works such as adding traffic lights and adjusting the signal time.

90. Mr YONG Kwok-chung thanked members for their comments and gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) he supported the motion and pointed out that compulsory implementation of the policy was conducive to alleviating the traffic problems and relieving the pressure of the Police’s manpower. He further pointed out that traffic wardens were civilian officers instead of disciplined officers. They would help divert the traffic in case of insufficient manpower of traffic police officers. If the Police deployed a lot of manpower in the vicinity of schools during the period before school, it might not be able to handle other traffic problems in the district at the same time;

(b) the Police would meet with schools in the district regularly in conjunction with TD. Some international schools had said that they would encourage their students to use school buses. But some parents still chose to drive their kids to school after paying the school bus fees. Some voluntary parents assisting in recording the licence numbers of non-compliant private cars were even assaulted by the motorists;

(c) given the limited enforcement power, traffic wardens could not issue fixed penalty tickets to parents driving private cars and waiting outside schools. The Police had once closed the entire Nam Long Shan Road 36

so that the students had to walk a distance before they could board the cars. But the measure would lead to a traffic jam at Police School Road. The Police had also towed away non-compliant vehicles. But it was very difficult to deploy a trailer to Nam Long Shan Road and so the policy could not be implemented for a long time;

(d) the Police would adopt the “3E” strategy, i.e. Enforcement, Engineering and Engagement, for tackling traffic problems. The Police would issue fixed penalty tickets to vehicles violating the traffic ordinances immediately. But since it took time to issue fixed penalty tickets and the Police had to handle other traffic problems, the number of fixed penalty tickets issued during peak hours was relatively low. He further said that adding traffic lights at Nam Long Shan Road could help divert the vehicular flow and reduce the required police manpower. The Police would proactively discuss other improvement works with TD and would maintain regular liaison with different stakeholders. Where circumstances permitted, traffic wardens would be deployed to divert the traffic in the vicinity of schools; and

(e) between 2017 and 2019, the Police received about 150 complaints about the traffic conditions of Nam Long Shan Road and had deployed staff members to handle the complaints. Owing to class suspension in the light of the epidemic, the Police only received 19 such complaints in the first half of 2020.

91. Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael enquired about TD’s views on adding railings in the vicinity of international schools. He hoped that TD would clarify the correlation between addition of railings and aggravation of traffic congestion.

92. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa requested that when the schools applied to carry out projects, the relevant bureau/department should relay SDC’s aspiration for implementation of the policy to the schools and request the schools to consult SDC’s views.

93. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that parking vehicles on pavements was an illegal act. TD would collect more data in the next school year and study the feasibility of adding railings. 37

94. The Chairman asked members to vote on the motion moved by Mr TSUI Yuen-wa and seconded by Mr YIM Chun-ho.

95. The motion was carried with 16 votes for it (including Mr CHAN Hin-chung, Mr CHAN Ping-yeung, Ms CHAN Yan-yi, Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo, Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH, Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun, Ms LI Shee-lin, Mr LO Kin-hei, Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael, Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN, Mr POON Ping-hong, Mr TSUI Yuen-wa, Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus, Mr YIM Chun-ho, Mr YU Chun-hei, James and Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany), zero vote against it and zero abstention.

96. The Chairman requested the Southern District Office, TD and HKPF to relay the Committee’s views to the relevant bureau/department. Since EDB failed to deploy a representative to the meeting, he requested the Secretariat to forward the discussion of the meeting to EDB and request the latter to give a written response. He also suggested requesting the international schools to make it mandatory that newly admitted students must use school buses.

97. Miss Sum CHENG responded that the Secretariat would forward the relevant minutes of the meeting to EDB and request the latter to give a written response on members’ comments.

98. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa suggested conveying the Committee’s views on the “school bus only” policy as well as the Committee’s aspiration for gradual implementation of the policy by international schools to the international schools in the Southern District.

99. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to convey the Committee’s views on the “school bus only” policy to EDB and the international schools in the district.

(Post-meeting note: The Secretariat issued a letter to EDB and international schools in the Southern District on 29 July 2020, and EDB replied on 14 August 2020. The details are given at Annex 4 to 6 respectively.)

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(Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael left the meeting at 6:14 p.m.)

Agenda Item 6: Follow up the Installation of Video Detectors along Aberdeen Praya Road and Wong Chuk Hang Road Discussed at the Meeting on 6 February 2020 (Item raised by Mr CHAN Hin-chung) (TTC Paper No. 24/2020)

100. The Chairman welcomed the following representatives to the meeting: (a) Mr Tung Chun-yin, Senior Engineer/Survey and Projects of TD; and (b) Mr SO Wing-kin, Engineer/Projects 3 of TD.

101. The Chairman said that at the 1st TTC meeting on 6 February 2020, the agenda item “Concern on the Installation of Surveillance Cameras along Aberdeen Praya Road and Wong Chuk Hang Road” had been discussed. At the meeting, TD was requested not to officially put the video detectors into operation before members’ concern had been addressed. However, TD had not yet provided supplementary information on the said issue for the time being. By putting forward the subject agenda, he intended to request TD to provide further information.

102. Mr SO Wing-kin said that TD had nothing to add apart from its written reply.

103. The Chairman said that according to TD’s written response, it would not officially put the video detectors into operation until members’ concern had been addressed. However, recently it was heard that TD intended to activate the relevant devices. He would like TD to respond to the query.

104. Mr SO Wing-kin responded that TD planned to commence the installation works of traffic detectors in the Southern District in August 2020. So far no detectors installed in the Southern District had been put into operation.

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105. The Chairman asked TD if it could carry out the installation works only after members’ concern had been addressed, so as to avoid causing their misunderstanding.

106. Mr SO Wing-kin responded that at the 1st TTC meeting, TD said that it would provide supplementary information to the Committee by mid-2020, and would not commence the relevant works until members’ concern had been addressed. However, in view of the complicated procedure, TD had to make preparation as early as possible, and would try its best to communicate with members prior to the commencement of works.

107. The Chairman said that although TD had provided the information as requested by members earlier on in Appendices 1 to 3 of its written response, it should have taken the initiative to notify the Committee early on and need not wait for the members to ask.

108. Mr SO Wing-kin said that members’ comments were noted.

109. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus enquired whether the video detectors were equipped with storage function. Moreover, as mentioned by TD in Appendix 3, Huawei Technologies Company Limited (Huawei) was the supplier of the auxiliary equipment (power management and wireless communication system) for the video detectors. He opined that the said supplier might arouse public concern and asked whether TD could provide detailed information on the relevant equipment.

110. Mr SO Wing-kin responded that the data collected from the detectors would be transmitted to TD’s system through a dedicated and encrypted network, and would be deleted automatically after dissemination to the public. The contractors proposed detector components according to the performance and specifications as specified in the contracts. After examining that the proposed components complied with the contract requirements, approval would be given to the contractors for their subsequent procurement and installation of the detectors.

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111. The Chairman asked TD when it would address members’ concern regarding the official activation of the video detectors.

112. Mr SO Wing-kin said that TD had provided the Committee with the relevant information, while the samples of snapshot in Appendix 1 had shown that the cameras of the video detectors were unable to recognise faces or the licence plate numbers of vehicles. Through the meeting, he hoped to address members’ concern.

113. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries.

114. Mr LO Kin-hei asked TD whether it could arrange for members to visit the data transmission centre of the video detectors.

115. The Chairman asked TD whether the relevant arrangement could be made in order to enable members to understand the actual operation of the video detectors for data collection.

116. Mr SO Wing-kin said that he understood members’ concern, but pointed out that TD would only record traffic data such as vehicular flow and vehicular speed. No other information would be stored. The real-time data collected by the video detectors would be released through channels like the TD’s website and the Government’s public information portal “data.gov.hk”. In addition, the backend system was only an ordinary data server which might not worth a visit by the members.

117. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun asked TD whether it could demonstrate to members the images and data collected by the video detectors on a real-time basis using the existing video detectors already installed.

118. Mr SO Wing-kin said that there were at present 14 video detectors installed in the Southern District but had not been officially put into operation. TD could provide the image samples collected by the said detectors for members’ reference after the meeting.

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119. The Chairman asked TD whether it could arrange with members for a site visit to inspect the real-time operation of the video detectors in order to address members’ worries.

120. Mr SO Wing-kin said that some video detectors installed in other districts had been put into operation. TD could provide the relevant website link for members’ reference.

121. Mr Tung Chun-yin added that real-time traffic images captured by commissioned video detectors could be viewed in the “Snapshots of Traffic Condition” webpage of TD’s website. Upon completion of installation and commissioning of video detectors in the Southern District, the traffic snapshots captured and uploaded by these detectors to the TD’s website would be of similar specification and format to those taken by detectors in other districts. Members may visit the website for image samples.

122. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus agreed with Mr LO Kin-hei’s proposal. He pointed out that a site visit to take a look at the relevant equipment and the data transmission centre could help ease members’ worries. He hoped that TD could make the relevant arrangement. In addition, he was concerned about the use of Huawei’s equipment by TD and asked the department whether the supplier could be changed.

123. Mr Tung Chun-yin gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) The images collected by video detectors would be uploaded via 4G wireless network to the cloud and the backend system server, while the said server was an ordinary data server. If members intended to have a site visit, TD could explore the feasibility and arrange members to visit the location where the server was installed;

(b) The video detectors were fully automatic without manual processing throughout its operation. The relevant information would be collected by a data server installed in a server room, and there was no data centre established for data collection; and

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(c) The contractors proposed the equipment required for the works in accordance with the contract requirements. Upon obtaining approval of the proposals in compliance with the requirements, the contractors arranged the procurement accordingly. As the contractors had already completed procurement of the equipment, it would delay the project progress and the contractors would claim compensations should there be changes in the equipment suppliers at the current stage.

124. The Chairman said that as TD had commenced the installation works of video detectors and chosen Huawei as one of the suppliers, it could hardly relieve members’ worries.

125. Mr LO Kin-hei noted that the real-time images of the video detectors could be viewed online, but he believed that there was a specific place for TD to monitor the traffic condition in various districts on a real-time basis. He considered that through a site visit to the said premises, members would be able to understand the actual operation of the video detectors. On the other hand, he was worried that Huawei would face technical constraints in future, and thus affecting the data transmission capability of the relevant equipment.

126. Mr Tung Chun-yin responded that TD would explore the feasibility and consider to arrange a site visit by the members. Regarding adoption of the Huawei branded components, their major functions were to supply power to the detectors, and to transmit data to the cloud. He stressed that the data collected by the detectors and uploaded snapshots were unable to be used to recognise faces or the licence plate numbers of vehicles, while the privacy impact assessment of the detector installation works had passed the review of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

127. Mr SO Wing-kin added that TD had consulted the Committee regarding the installation of video detectors in 2018, and had all along maintained communication with the Committee.

128. Ms LI Shee-lin enquired whether the real-time images of the video detectors could be viewed at the traffic control centre. She hoped that during

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members’ site visit, TD would explain how the video detectors processed the relevant data and effectively improved the traffic condition in the Southern District.

129. Mr SO Wing-kin responded that the video detectors would detect traffic incidents automatically, and the relevant data would be disseminated to the Traffic Control Centre (TCC) and the departments concerned for enhancing the efficiency of handling traffic incidents.

130. In closing, the Chairman said that although TD had provided the relevant information as requested by the Committee, it was still unable to address members’ concern. As such, he requested TD to arrange for a site visit in order to allow members to have a better grasp of the operation of video detectors.

(Post-meeting note：Please refer to Annex 7 for the testing samples of traffic snapshots taken by detectors installed in the Southern District, and links of real time traffic snapshots taken by the detectors in other districts which are being disseminated through TD’s website and “data.gov.hk”. Regarding the visit to the data server of traffic detectors, TD is considering to arrange members to visit the operation of relevant data server at the project office when the COVID-19 preventative measures are relaxed.)

(Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany left the meeting at 6:21 p.m.)

Agenda Item 7: Progress Report on Previously Discussed Items (as at 30.6.2020) (TTC Paper No. 25/2020)

131. The Chairman asked members to give their views on the items in order of their appearance in the report.

(A)1 Multi-Storey Carpark and Public Transport Terminus at Stanley Village Road, Stanley

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132. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN asked TD whether it had worked with the Lands Department to study the proposal of selecting an alternative site for the construction of multi-storey carpark on Stanley Village Road.

133. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that the consultant commissioned by Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) would also study the feasibility of other site selection, while the relevant traffic impact assessment (TIA) study was now in progress.

134. The Chairman enquired about the progress of the TIA study.

135. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that the TIA study was expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

136. Mr LO Kin-hei asked whether the project study was still conducted based on the original proposal. He suggested that the department concerned should consult the SDC member of the relevant local constituency regarding the selection of carpark site.

137. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that improvement for the proposed project design was still based on the proposal of the carpark at Stanley Village Road. However, TD would collect members’ views for consideration.

(A)4 Second Phase of the “Universal Accessibility” Programme

138. Regarding the project of Footbridge No. HKS01, Ms CHAN Yan-yi requested Highways Department (HyD) to liaise with the relevant stakeholders as early as possible, including the Incorporated Owners of Lei Tung Estate, so as to clarify the land boundary as well as the responsibilities for lift repair in future.

139. Mr Paul LEE responded that HyD noted members’ comments and would relay the comments to the relevant division after the meeting.

140. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun enquired about the progress of the project on Footbridge No. HKS02. 45

141. Mr Paul LEE responded that the proposal for the provision of lifts was now under study. HyD Universal Accessibility Project Team would report the details to the member concerned after the meeting.

(A)11 Road works related to Cyberport Expansion

142. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that TD should carry out a comprehensive TIA on the development projects throughout Pok Fu Lam, including the Cyberport Expansion Project, the redevelopment of Wah Fu Estate, the development project of Pok Fu Lam, the South Island Line (West), the Queen Mary Hospital Redevelopment Project and the different redevelopment projects of the University of Hong Kong, in order to study the traffic impact on the Southern District upon completion of various projects. He hoped that TD would provide the relevant information to the Committee.

143. Mr YIM Chun-ho agreed with the comments of Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN. He pointed out that the department concerned should provide the traffic planning blueprint to the Committee. Moreover, works should not be commenced before the Committee’s consent was sought, in order to avoid causing controversy.

144. Mr Gary LEUNG responded that TD noted members’ comments and would prepare for the information as requested by members.

（ Post-meeting note: TD was consolidating the information from existing development projects and anticipated the information would be ready by mid-September 2020.）

(A)15 Traffic Consultancy Report on the pedestrian crossing outside Pui Tak Canossian Primary School at the Aberdeen Main Road

145. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus enquired about the progress of the traffic consultancy report on the pedestrian crossing outside Pui Tak Canossian Primary School at the Aberdeen Main Road. Moreover, since the report had been initially

46

scheduled for completion by the end of 2020, he asked for the reason why the completion time was now postponed to mid-2021.

146. Mr Gary LEUNG responded that the relevant study was still in progress. The consultant had submitted preliminary comments to TD, and the report was expected to be completed by mid-2021.

147. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus requested TD to provide the Committee with the preliminary proposal of the consultant. In addition, he pointed out that although TD had installed crash barriers near Pui Tak Canossian Primary School, the installation process had affected the nearby traffic. He hoped that TD and HyD would pay attention to the relevant situation.

148. Mr Gary LEUNG responded that TD noted members’ comments and would submit the preliminary proposal to the Committee in due course.

149. The Chairman enquired about the latest progress on the installation of Energy Absorbing Bollards.

（Post-meeting note: Material supply issue of the Energy Absorbing Bollards remained and the installation of safety barriers for replacement was completed in June 2020.）

150. Mr YIM Chun-ho said that TD had previously conducted a study on the overall traffic situation of Aberdeen, including the relocation of bus stops and green minibus stands as well as the replanning of traffic routes. He would like to know about the current progress of various projects.

151. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that TD had completed most of the short-term measures, and would continue to study other medium-term and long-term measures as well as working out different feasible proposals with members.

152. The Chairman requested TD to provide the Committee with a written response on the relevant measures.

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153. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus proposed that the department concerned give a response to the members’ enquiries at the next meeting. Moreover, he pointed out that after TD’s site visit at the bus stop of Tung Sing Road, the project was still in the stage of trial pit exploration for underground utilities and had yet to carry out relocation of the bus stop (Citybus Route No. 98 and NWFB Route No. 595) from the said location. He requested TD to give a written response on the project progress.

154. Mr LO Kin-hei asked TD to explain how to define medium-term and long-term measures, and requested it to provide the Committee with the timetable for various works. Taking Aberdeen Bus Terminus as an example, he said that the project had been classified as a medium-term measure. TD should begin to consider the design proposal for the entry and exit points of the bus stop, the green minibus stand and the taxi stand, so as to tie in with the overall development of Aberdeen. He requested TD to work out the direction of future development with reference to members’ comments. If the said project could not be implemented in the short run, the T&TC might engage a consultant by itself to conduct a study on the improvement measures for the Aberdeen Bus Terminus.

155. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus agreed with the comments of Mr LO Kin-hei. He asked TD to provide the Committee with the timetable for relocating the bus stop of Tung Sing Road (Citybus Route No. 98 and NWFB Route No. 595). He added that TD had put forward a proposal in its study report that the bus stop at Aberdeen Praya Road should be widened. In addition, TD would also discuss with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for the arrangement of using a portion of Aberdeen Promenade for widening the bus stop. However, he had not yet received a definite answer from TD so far. He hoped that TD would report the progress to members at the next meeting.

156. Mr Gary LEUNG responded that TD would provide members with details on the progress of various projects after the meeting. He added that TD had substantially completed the short-term measures. The remaining projects would be more complicated, which might involve a trial pit investigation for underground utilities. TD would report to the Committee on the difficulties and the expected commencement dates of the projects concerned.

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157. The Chairman understood that it took time for TD to conduct a study. However, he hoped that TD could report the progress to members on a regular basis, in order to facilitate monitoring by members and allow them to give their views.

(C) Highways Department (Southern District) Progress Report on Major Road Resurfacing Works to be completed within 2 months or to start within 6 Months

158. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that he had complained to HyD about the serious problem of uneven road surface in the Bays Area. He hoped that HyD would deploy staff for inspection and carry out maintenance works in a timely manner.

159. Mr Paul LEE responded that HyD noted members’ comments and would follow up accordingly.

160. The Chairman said that he had complained to the Director of Highways that there were always potholes on the road surface of the zebra crossing near Yue Fai Court on Yue Kwong Road, and it was undesirable to carry out maintenance works with the use of asphalt. According to HyD’s response, the relevant solution involved large-scale works and might require temporary road closure. He hoped that HyD would follow up accordingly.

161. Mr Paul LEE responded that HyD’s Maintenance Section had noticed the problem of Yue Kwong Road and contacted the contractor for discussion on the details of the works project. HyD would report the details to members after the meeting.

(E) Hong Kong Police Force and Transport Department - Southern District Traffic Accident Report (June, 2020)

162. Mr POON Ping-hong said that the report on the traffic accident which took place at Tin Wan Praya Road near Wah Kwai Estate should be categorised under the West Area.

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163. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to revise accordingly.

（Post-meeting note: The Secretariat has revised the relevant part.）

Reference Information 1 - List of Missing and Sub-standard Pedestrian Links with High Pedestrian Demand in the Southern District

164. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that although Reference Information 1 had listed out all the pedestrian links which required attention, he hoped that the department concerned could further work out some improvement measures.

165. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that the locations listed in the table had various unresolvable issues such as geographical constraints. When TD received development applications, TD would request the relevant Government Departments or developers to reserve space for road widening as far as practicable.

166. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that in view of the epidemic, many people chose to go out for such activities as hiking. As Cape D’Aguilar Road in the list was a trail for access to Dragon’s Back, members of the public would travel between Shek O and Big Wave Bay via the narrow road. In this connection, the Government Department concerned should not impose a normal design standard on these footpaths. He requested HyD to work out an improvement proposal to cater for the geographical constraints of the relevant location in order to fulfil the public needs.

167. Mr Paul LEE responded that road improvement works would be under TD’s purview. HyD would provide technical advices to TD on the road improvement works proposal and carry out the relevant works accordingly.

168. Mr HUNG Tsz-hin responded that as hiking trails were not under TD’s purview, members could make request to the relevant department for follow-up action. TD would study the footpaths under its purview and consult HyD for technical advice. TD would arrange for improvement works to be carried out as far as practicable.

169. The Chairman asked TD to follow up the matter.

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Reference Information 2 - Illegal Parking Blackspots Figures of Southern District

170. A number of members raised enquiries and comments on the subject item, with details summarised as follows:

(a) Mr CHAN Ping-yeung said that the number of enforcement action taken at Ap Lei Chau Main Street in June 2020 was lower than before. While he understood that the Police might need to deploy manpower for taking enforcement action in other districts, he pointed out that there was serious illegal parking at the said location in the afternoon during weekends and thus the Police was requested to strengthen its enforcement action.

(b) Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus asked the Police about the details of the enforcement action taken on the inner streets of Aberdeen in June 2020. He said that there was always illegal parking at the road section of Cheng Tu Road near Albert House, causing serious congestion for the buses and school buses that came after the illegally parked vehicles. He hoped that the Police would strengthen enforcement action at the said location;

(c) The Chairman said that in April 2020, the Police had issued a relatively large number of fixed penalty tickets against the vehicles illegally parked along Information Crescent, Cyberport Road, Tin Wan Praya Road up to the Wah Kwai Bus Terminus and Yue Kwong Road. He would like to know about the reason for that;

(d) Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said that as the Housing Department had prohibited parking of vehicles at Ap Lei Chau Estate Bus Terminus, many drivers parked their vehicles at the junction between the bus terminus and Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road, which would easily pose a danger. She hoped that the Police would strengthen patrol in order to avoid occurrence of accidents; and

(e) Ms LI Shee-lin said that the number of fixed penalty tickets issued by the Police at Wah Lok Path had shown a decreasing trend; however, the

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situation of illegal parking had not yet improved. She urged the Police to strengthen patrol.

171. Mr YONG Kwok-chung gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) Apart from the 27 illegal parking blackspots in the list, the Police had also patrolled other locations in the Southern District. However, in view of the limited manpower of Police, higher priority had to be accorded to cases of vehicles causing traffic obstruction. Therefore, the Police might not be able to address the illegal parking problem in certain areas in a timely manner. With the availability of manpower, the Police would combat the illegal parking problem in the Southern District as far as practicable;

(b) Since the vehicles in Hong Kong had outnumbered the provision of car parking spaces and the amount of fixed penalty for illegal parking had not been raised so far, it was difficult to rely on the Police enforcement only for resolving the illegal parking problem; and

(c) During weekends, the Police would adopt the tactics of “repetitive fixed penalty tickets” as a deterrent measure at the beaches in the Southern District by issuing fixed penalty tickets repeatedly against the illegally parked vehicles.

172. Mr CHAN Ping-yeung said that there was always traffic obstruction caused by vehicles at Hung Shing Street in Ap Lei Chau and No. 96-167 Ap Lei Chau Main Street, affecting other road sections in the district. As such, he hoped that the Police would strengthen their enforcement action.

173. Mr POON Ping-hong said that a temporary car park was set up in Wah Kwai Estate in April 2020, which was helpful to relieve the problem of illegal parking. Moreover, the Chinese restaurant mainly targeted at serving tourists had ceased operation, which in turn had lessened the situation of illegal parking by coaches. Nevertheless, as the parking spaces in the carpark of Wah Kwai Estate were always fully occupied at night, many drivers had no alternative but to park their vehicles at the nearby roundabout, and hence affecting the access of residents.

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174. Mr YONG Kwok-chung further responded that as the Police had conducted operations to combat overnight illegal parking, the prosecution figures would be higher at certain locations. The Police would carry out operations to combat illegal parking in various housing estates during evening commuting hours, night time at 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the morning. He added that members’ comments were noted and the Police would carry out operations to combat illegal parking at the Ap Lei Chau Estate Bus Terminus as well as in Wah Kwai Estate wherever possible.

(Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun and Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo left the meeting at 7:06 p.m. and 7:16 p.m. respectively.)

Agenda Item 8: Any Other Business

175. The Chairman asked whether members had any other items to raise.

176. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus said that a fatal traffic accident took place outside Pui Tak Canossian Primary School at Aberdeen Reservoir Road on 9 July 2020, with details as follows:

(a) A 90-year-old pedestrian was run over and killed by a dumper truck in the accident, which aroused residents’ concern over pedestrian safety at the said location. He pointed out that at the said road section and the location near the clinic on Yue Fai Road, there were always jaywalkers who did not follow traffic regulations. He hoped that TD would seriously address the issue of pedestrian safety and put in place the appropriate measures accordingly. Moreover, he would like to know about the progress of the traffic consultancy report conducted by TD at the accident scene;

(b) He requested the Police and TD to provide relevant details for the said traffic accident, in order to enable members to gauge the traffic safety of the above road section and learn more about the case; and

(c) He asked whether TD would consider adding traffic detectors and “Reduce Speed” road signs at the road section concerned. In addition, he pointed out that pedestrians always crossed the road from the space

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in between the bus stops of Tsung Man Street, which could easily cause danger. In this connection, he proposed that TD should add railings and carry out a comprehensive review on the road safety issue of pedestrians in the district.

177. The Chairman invited the TD representative to respond.

178. Mr Gary LEUNG responded that upon completion of site review and according to information from accident investigation by Police, TD would reply to the written enquiry of Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus. In addition, TD would continue to review and enhance road safety.

179. Mr HO Chun-hin said that the Police felt sorry about the accident. According to the preliminary investigation on the accident, the vehicle involved was a dumper truck driven by a hit-and-run driver. Based on the information provided by members of the public, the Police managed to find the vehicle in Tseung Kwan O and arrested the 54-year-old male driver on a charge of “causing death by dangerous driving”. The Police would further conduct a detailed investigation and forensic examination to study the cause of the accident. In addition, the scene of the accident was not a pedestrian crossing, and the accident might be caused by the blind spot of the driver seating high in the truck. The Police appealed to the public who had any information to contact the Traffic Investigation Division of the Hong Kong Island Region at 3660 6800. Moreover, he said that the Police had all along been taking enforcement action proactively and working in collaboration with TD with a view to minimising traffic accidents.

180. The Chairman responded that some residents in the Shek Yue constituency often jaywalked at the location where the accident took place. In this connection, he was gravely concerned about the accident. He hoped that TD and HyD would conduct a site visit with Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus and him at the scene, in order to work out the measures for improving road safety.

181. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus thanked TD and the Police for their cooperative efforts, and hoped that the departments concerned would provide him with supplementary information on the cause and investigation findings of the accident. 54

He added that pedestrians were always found jaywalking across the junction near Hsin Kuang Restaurant on Nam Ning Street, which might also lead to traffic accidents. It was hoped that TD would pay attention to the relevant situation.

182. Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN said that apart from increasing the number of railings, TD was also requested to take into account other feasible measures to protect pedestrian safety, which included limiting the maximum speed of vehicles in Aberdeen.

183. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus agreed with the comments of Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN. He proposed that TD should also take into account any other feasible improvement proposals.

184. In closing, the Chairman requested that the departments concerned take into consideration the above members’ proposals. Apart from addition of railings, a study should also be conducted to work out other measures for improving the road safety of pedestrians, so as to prevent recurrence of similar accidents.

Date of Next Meeting

185. The Chairman advised the meeting that the 4th meeting of T&TC under SDC would be held at 2:30 p.m. on 17 September 2020 (Thursday) at the SDC Conference Room.

186. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.

Secretariat, Southern District Council September 2020

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Annex 1

3rd Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee on 9 July 2020

Agenda 2 – Public Transport Services and Traffic Situation in the Southern District

Supplementary information from Citybus / NWFB Ltd

Complaints on lost trips made by TTC members during the meeting and responses from Citybus / NWFB Ltd:

Complainant Event Date Content of Complaint Response from Citybus / NWFB Ltd Ms LAM 5 June 2020 NWFB & Citybus App According to our operational records Yuk-chun, MH (Friday) showed that Citybus Route on 5 June, departures of Route No. 592 No. 592 (South Horizons during the concerned period were bound) would arrive at adversely affected by serious traffic Hysan Place bus stop at congestion in Aberdeen Tunnel and 6:45 p.m., but the bus Causeway Bay. The prolonged arrived at 7:10 p.m. The journey time hindered our buses from App did not update the bus arriving at and departing from Moreton arrival time. Terrace Bus Terminus on time. The departures were subsequently adjusted from 12-minute to 9 to 16-minute headway. Updates on bus arrival time were also affected.

Mr LAM 24 June 2020 A citizen waited for NWFB The event date should be 22 June. Andrew (Wednesday) Route No. 38 (Chi Fu Fa According to our operational records Tak-wo Yuen bound) at North Point on 22 June, departures of Route No. 38 Ferry Pier Bus Terminus at during the concerned period were 11:00 p.m. NWFB & adversely affected by serious traffic Citybus App showed the congestion in Causeway Bay caused by next departure would be urgent road work on Causeway Road after 50 minutes, but the (eastbound). The prolonged journey timetable stated that time hindered our buses from arriving headway should be 10 to 11 at and departing from North Point minutes. Ferry Pier Bus Terminus on time. The departures were subsequently

1 adjusted to 12:15 a.m.

June 2020 A citizen waited for NWFB The event date should be 30 June. (No exact Route No. 38 (North Point According to our operational records date) Ferry Pier bound) at Chi Fu on 30 June, departure of Route No. 38 Fa Yuen Bus Terminus at at 12:54 p.m. was adversely affected by 12:39 p.m. NWFB & illegal parking on Kam Hong Street, Citybus Mobile App showed North Point and traffic congestion in the next departure would be Causeway Bay. The prolonged at 1:08 p.m. However, journey time hindered our bus from there would be another arriving at and departing from Chi Fu departure at 1:10 p.m. Was Fa Yuen Bus Terminus on time. The the information in the App bus was subsequently arranged to run a correct? private trip to North Point Ferry Pier before beginning service to minimise the service gap. The departure at 1:06 p.m. was also adjusted to 1:12 p.m.

Mr POON 19 June 2020 Mr POON Ping-hong and According to our operational records Ping-hong (Friday) several citizens waited for on 19 June, departures of Route No. 72 Citybus Route No. 72 (Wah during the concerned period were Kwai Estate bound) at Canal adversely affected by serious traffic Road bus stop at 6:00 p.m. congestion in Aberdeen Tunnel and A bus arrived at 6:30 p.m. Causeway Bay from 2:00 p.m. The but only eight people could prolonged journey time hindered our get on the bus. Another buses from arriving at and departing bus skipped the stop at 6:40 from bus terminus on time. The p.m. because it was fully departures were subsequently adjusted occupied. They eventually from 6 to 7-minute to 4 to 24-minute got on the bus at 6:50 p.m. headway. He suggested strengthening the service of Route No. 72.

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Ms LI Shee-lin 19 June 2020 A citizen waited for NWFB According to our operational records (Friday) Route No. 42 (Wah Fu on 19 June, departures of Route No. 42 South bound) at Canal Road during the concerned period were bus stop from 6:30 p.m. to adversely affected by serious traffic 7:00 p.m. Bus arrived congestion in Causeway Bay caused by after 30 minutes or longer. tram accident in Happy Valley. The She urged the bus company prolonged journey time hindered our to face up to the problem of buses from arriving at and departing lost trips. from bus terminus on time. The departures were subsequently adjusted.

8 July 2020 The departure of NWFB According to our operational records (Wednesday) Route No. 4X from Wah Fu on 8 July, departures of Route No. 4X South at 10:20 a.m. was during the concerned period were missing. She urged the bus adversely affected by serious traffic company to face up to the congestion in Causeway Bay caused by problem of lost trips. traffic accident outside Central Ferry Piers. The prolonged journey time hindered our buses from arriving at and departing from bus terminus on time. The departures were subsequently adjusted.

Citybus / NWFB Ltd September 2020

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Annex 2

3rd Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee on 9 July 2020

Agenda 3 – Traffic Problems Caused by Fallen Trees and Tree Maintenance

Supplementary information from the Highways Department

(1) The roadside tree works/ tree pruning plans in the Southern District:

Please find below the tentative programme of the tree works (up to end of August) in the Southern District. Please note that tree works requiring temporary traffic arrangement (e.g. lane closure) are subject to the approval from the Police's Road Management Office, and the sequence of works may not follow the planned programme exactly.

Table A: Slope No. Street Name Schedule 11SE-C/C17 Deep Water Bay Road 11SW-D/CR2042 Deep Water Bay Road

11SE-C/C3 Repulse Bay Road (15-30/8) 15NE-B/C29 Shek O Road 15NW-B/CR100 Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road

(2) The roadside tree pruning locations in the Southern District

The tree works locations are indicated in Appendix 1.

(3) The relevant data on roadside tree maintenance (including the number of staff, vehicles and equipment in the Southern District):

(3.1) Resource from Landscape Division/Highways Department: 2 staff from professional grade (Landscape Architect) with arborist qualification and 2 field officers.

(3.2) Resource from HyD's maintenance term contractor for Southern District:

(i) Routine horticultural inspection and maintenance work: The routine maintenance operation team composes of 15 workers (including 1 tree works supervisor and at least 3 chain saw operators), 3 lorries and grabbers. The Inspection Team composes of 3 tree specialists with arborist qualification and 3 horticultural inspectors (with degree in horticultural management or landscape design).

(ii) Specific tree maintenance works (such as the tree works as indicated in Table A above): The relevant tree work will be carried out by 6 skilled workers. The team is equipped with an aerial work platform and 1 grab lorry. The contractor will deploy professional tree climber for tree pruning if necessary.

Highways Department September 2020 Appendix 1

11SW-D/CR2042 at Deep Water Bay Road

Appendix 1

11SE-C/C17 at Deep Water Bay Road

Appendix 1

11SE-C/C3 at Repulse Bay Road

Appendix 1

15NE-B/C29 at Shek O Road

Appendix 1

15NW-B/CR100 at Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road

Annex 3

3rd Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee on 9 July 2020

Agenda 3 – Traffic Problems Caused by Fallen Trees and Tree Maintenance

Supplementary information from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department

In general, for non-emergency tree works, LCSD would arrange all the roadside tree maintenance works during off-peak hours in order to minimise the impact on the traffic road users. If temporary traffic arrangement is required for the tree maintenance works, LCSD would submit an application to the Police and Transport Department (TD) in prior so that TD could issue relevant traffic notices to remind the public and drivers in advance.

Recently, LCSD has not arranged any roadside tree maintenance works in the Southern District that is required for temporary traffic arrangement. If there is a need for conducting tree maintenance works with temporary traffic arrangement in coming future, LCSD will provide the relevant information to the Secretariat so that it can inform the district council members about the arrangement in advance.

There are 30 staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, 15 contract staff and 6 vehicles responsible for the maintenance of roadside trees in the Southern District. As for equipment, there are 40 chainsaws, 35 hand saws, 18 tree tail shears and 24 telescopic tree pruners, as well as two sets of Resistographs and Tomographys.

Leisure and Cultural Services Department September 2020

Annex 4

(Translation)

Ref: HADS DC/13/30/3/7/020

(By post)

29 July 2020

Ms Emile TONG Chief School Development Officer (CW&S) Southern District School Development Section Hong Kong Regional Education Office School Development Division School Development and Administration Branch Education Bureau 3/F, 14 Taikoo Wan Road Taikoo Shing Hong Kong

Dear Ms TONG,

Request for Compulsory Implementation of the “School Bus Only” Policy in the International Schools of Southern District

At its third meeting on 9 July 2020, the Traffic and Transport Committee (the Committee) under the Southern District Council (SDC) discussed the motion on Requesting Compulsory Implementation of the “School Bus Only” Policy in the International Schools of Southern District moved by Mr TSUI Yuen-wa and seconded by Mr YIM Chun-ho.

There are now 11 international schools in the Southern District. Most of them have not implemented the “school bus only” policy. The increased vehicular flow of private cars

1 in the district during the periods before and after school has great impacts on the local traffic and the lives of local residents. The Committee put forth a suggestion that requested the Education Bureau to make it mandatory to implement the “school bus only” policy in international schools in the Southern District so as to reduce the number of private cars taking school kids and alleviate the local traffic problems at source. To minimise the impacts on the schools, parents and students, some Committee members suggested that the schools could implement the “school bus only” policy in phases in a gradual and orderly manner (such as requiring that all newly admitted students must use school buses).

The Committee has endorsed the motion with the content “This Committee requests bureaux/departments such as the Education Bureau and the Transport Department to make it mandatory to implement the ‘school bus only’ policy in international schools in the Southern District in response to the community’s concern about improvements to local traffic conditions” at the meeting. I sincerely hope that the Education Bureau will relay the Committee’s views to the international schools in the Southern District and implement the “school bus only” policy in collaboration with the relevant departments as early as possible.

The discussion papers and (abridged) draft minutes of the Committee meeting are given at Appendixes 1 and 2, respectively, while the floor audio of the meeting has been uploaded to the SDC website for your reference: https://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/south/tc_chi/meetings/committees/dc_committees_meeti ngs_audio.php?meeting_id=16043.

Grateful if the Education Bureau could provide a bilingual reply on members’ comments and suggestions. Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Miss Christy LAU, Secretary to the Committee, at 2814 5812. I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours sincerely, (signed) CHAN Hin-chung Chairman of Traffic and Transport Committee Southern District Council

2 w/encl. cc: Director of Transport (attn.: Mr HUNG Tsz-hin, Engineer/Southern 1) Commissioner of Police (attn.: Mr YONG Kwok-chung, Officer-in-charge, District Traffic Team (Western)) District Officer (Southern)

3 Annex 5

(Translation)

Ref: HADS DC/13/30/3/7/020

(By post)

29 July 2020

To: Principals of international schools in the Southern District

Dear Sir/Madam,

Request for Compulsory Implementation of the “School Bus Only” Policy in the International Schools of Southern District

At its third meeting on 9 July 2020, the Traffic and Transport Committee (the Committee) under the Southern District Council (SDC) discussed the motion on Requesting Compulsory Implementation of the “School Bus Only” Policy in the International Schools of Southern District moved by Mr TSUI Yuen-wa and seconded by Mr YIM Chun-ho.

There are now 11 international schools in the Southern District. Most of them have not implemented the “school bus only” policy. The increased vehicular flow of private cars in the district during the periods before and after school has great impacts on the local traffic and the lives of local residents. The Committee put forth a suggestion that requested the Education Bureau to make it mandatory to implement the “school bus only” policy in international schools in the Southern District so as to reduce the number of private cars taking school kids and alleviate the local traffic problems at source. To minimise the impacts on the schools, parents and students, some Committee members suggested that the schools could implement the “school bus only” policy in phases in a gradual and orderly manner (such as requiring that all newly admitted students must use school buses).

1 The Committee has endorsed the motion with the content “This Committee requests bureaux/departments such as the Education Bureau and the Transport Department to make it mandatory to implement the ‘school bus only’ policy in international schools in the Southern District in response to the community’s concern about improvements to local traffic conditions” at the meeting. I sincerely hope that your school will accept the Committee’s suggestions concerning the “school bus only” policy and join hands with SDC to improve the local traffic and build up a harmonious community.

The discussion papers and (abridged) draft minutes of the Committee meeting are given at Appendixes 1 and 2, respectively, while the floor audio of the meeting has been uploaded to the SDC website for your reference: https://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/south/tc_chi/meetings/committees/dc_committees_meeti ngs_audio.php?meeting_id=16043.

Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Miss Christy LAU, Secretary to the Committee, at 2814 5812. I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours faithfully, (signed) CHAN Hin-chung Chairman of Traffic and Transport Committee Southern District Council w/encl. cc: Director of Transport (attn.: Mr HUNG Tsz-hin, Engineer/Southern 1) Commissioner of Police (attn.: Mr YONG Kwok-chung, Officer-in-charge, District Traffic Team (Western)) District Officer (Southern)

2 Annex 6

附件七 Annex 7

2020年 7月 9日舉行的交通及運輸事務委員會第三次會議 3rd Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee on 9 July 2020

議程六–跟進2月 6日會上有關香港仔海傍道及黃竹坑道一帶加裝視像探測器一事 Agenda Item 6 –Follow up the Installation of Video Detectors along Aberdeen Praya Road and Wong Chuk Hang Road Discussed at the Meeting on 6 February 2020

運輸署的補充資料 Supplementary information from Transport Department

南區交通快拍影像的測試樣本 Testing Sample of Traffic Snapshots in Southern District

影像解像度 Image Resolution : 320 x 240

影像解像度 Image Resolution : 320 x 240

影像解像度 Image Resolution : 320 x 240

因電力問題，其中一個位於黃竹坑道西行近黃竹坑遊樂場的視像探測器現正進行 維修，因此未能提供交通快拍影像樣本。 Due to power outrage, a video detector at Wong Chuk Hang Road westbound near Wong Chuk Hang Recreation Ground is under repair, no sample traffic snapshot is available.

由其他地區的視像探測器所拍攝的實時交通快拍影像，透過運輸署網頁及「資料 一線通」發放的連結： Links of other real time traffic snapshots taken by the video detectors in other district which are being disseminated through TD’s website and “data.gov.hk”: http://tdcctv.data.one.gov.hk/AID02121.JPG http://tdcctv.data.one.gov.hk/AID02125.JPG

運輸署 Transport Department

2020 年 9 月 September 2020