Worcester Polytechnic Institute Digital WPI Interactive Qualifying Projects (All Years) Interactive Qualifying Projects March 2018 Water Taxis in Hong Kong: Their otP ential and Future Connor William McNamara Worcester Polytechnic Institute Daniela Milagrosa Baez Worcester Polytechnic Institute Josie Ann Bradshaw Worcester Polytechnic Institute Marco A. Interlandi Worcester Polytechnic Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/iqp-all Repository Citation McNamara, C. W., Baez, D. M., Bradshaw, J. A., & Interlandi, M. A. (2018). Water Taxis in Hong Kong: Their Potential and Future. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/iqp-all/5232 This Unrestricted is brought to you for free and open access by the Interactive Qualifying Projects at Digital WPI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Interactive Qualifying Projects (All Years) by an authorized administrator of Digital WPI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Water Taxis in Hong Kong: Their Potential and Future An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science by Daniela Baez Josie Brashaw Marco Intelandi Connor McNamara Date: 2 March 2018 Report Submitted to: Paul Zimmerman Designing Hong Kong Margaret Brooke, Kira Brownlee, Cynthia Chan, Jackson Hui Harbour Business Forum Professor Thomas Balistrieri (Co-Advisor) and Professor Stephan Sturm (Co-Advisor) Worcester Polytechnic Institute This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. ABSTRACT This project, completed at the WPI Hong Kong Project Center in collaboration with the Harbour Business Forum and Designing Hong Kong, evaluates the future of water taxis in Victoria Harbour. Water taxis exist in Hong Kong, and our team found that there is demand for this service; we observed and interviewed providers of current water taxi type services as well as gauged public interest through a survey. Based on frequent consultation with public and private stakeholders, we developed a vision for the future of water taxis. We recommend a phased development plan for the organization of water taxis in Hong Kong. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank all of the following organizations and individuals for helping with the completion of this project: DESIGNING HONG KONG AND THE HARBOUR BUSINESS FORUM: In particular, thank you to our liaisons, Margaret Brooke, Kira Brownlee, Cynthia Chan, Jackson Hui, and Paul Zimmerman, for providing us with constant support, contacts, and feedback. We appreciate your hospitality during our stay in Hong Kong. Further, thank you to Denis Leung, Terry Ma, and Kitty Tang for all of your assistance. WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE: We appreciate the opportunity to study abroad in Hong Kong. Thank you to our advisors, Dr. Balistrieri and Dr. Sturm, for your guidance and advice throughout this entire process. We would also like to acknowledge our dedicated librarian, Paige Neumann, for your help in editing. REED SMITH RICHARDS BUTLER: Thank you to Peter Lee, Stephanie Siu, Jeremy Or, and Cindy Ha for your legal advice on the development of water taxis in Hong Kong. Your memorandum proved invaluable for our understanding and completion of the project. INTERVIEWEES: Thank you to those from the Marine and Transport Departments as well as Kee Marine and Boston Harbor Cruises for your time and knowledge. ATTENDEES OF OUR RECOMMENDATION WORKSHOP: Thank you all for taking the time to listen and meet with us as well as provide your constructive feedback and enthusiasm. We hope our recommendations bring water taxis to Victoria Harbour. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The city of Hong Kong is transforming Victoria Harbour into a vibrant hub for commercial, residential, and tourist activity. Several large scale construction projects are underway to redevelop the harbor front. As these developments proceed, there are concerns about harbor front accessibility. Currently, most forms of transport in Hong Kong are focused inland, making the waterfront difficult to access. In order to advance harbor front development, transportation which allows for easy and direct access between waterfront locations should be developed. One possibility is to revive the old water taxi or walla walla (嘩啦嘩啦) services in Victoria Harbour. While some vessels still operate as water taxis, they are not organized enough to act as an effective service. Our project explores the possibility of organizing these various services and offers a set of recommendations to bring water taxis to Victoria Harbour. METHODS The purpose of this project is to provide recommendations for the development of an organized water taxi system in Victoria Harbour. To accomplish this goal, we recognized four main objectives: 1. Identify existing infrastructure and future developments on Victoria Harbour to determine suitable water taxi type service locations. 2. Gather information on current water taxi type services in Hong Kong. 3. Identify public interest in a water taxi service. 4. Develop recommendations for a business framework to organize water taxi services in Victoria Harbour. iv In order to fulfill these objectives, we: 1. Researched existing harbor infrastructure and future harbor front developments to determine current and future locations suitable for a water taxi service. 2. Interviewed locals and water taxi providers and observed their services at nine waterfront locations in order to identify the water taxi type services operating in Hong Kong. 3. Surveyed the public to measure interest and preferences regarding a water taxi service. 4. Interviewed government officials, identified legal requirements for the service, and led a workshop with public and private stakeholders to help develop recommendations for a water taxi service in Victoria Harbour. FINDINGS We identified the demand for a water taxi service in Hong Kong as well as the major components of an organized system. Demand for a Water Taxi Service Our observations show that these types of services already operate in Hong Kong, indicating demand exists; however, they are not currently known as ‘water taxis.’ This is reinforced by our public interest survey. Out of 508 respondents, 36% have used a local water taxi type service, and 89% indicated that they would like to use a water taxi in Hong Kong. Additionally, as future developments increase harbor front accessibility, we conclude that the demand for water taxis in Victoria Harbour will increase. Organization of a Water Taxi Service We identify six major components of an organized water taxi service: licensing, equipment, harbor infrastructure, pricing, booking, and marketing. We also conclude that for a water taxi service to be organized, an entity must exist which would be held responsible and/or accountable for water taxis to Hong Kong. v RECOMMENDATIONS Our recommendations are designed based on the fact that there is no current entity responsible and accountable for a water taxi service. Water Taxi Business Framework We are providing our recommendation as a phased process. For each of the six components of a water taxi system, we provide three phases which contain elements that increase in sophistication and complexity. Progression is dependent on two factors: time and the emergence of a responsible and accountable entity. Additionally, elements within each component may change phases depending on future circumstances. Government Involvement In order for this phased process to be implemented quickly and efficiently, we recommend that Designing Hong Kong and the Harbour Business Forum encourage the government of Hong Kong to establish a committee, containing representatives from all relevant government departments. This committee should facilitate the organization of a water taxi service by assisting in the areas of licensing, harbor infrastructure, and marketing. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................... iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... vii TABLE OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................... ix TABLE OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ x 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 11 2. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Victoria Harbour ................................................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 History of Victoria Harbour ........................................................................................