Sustainable Living Hong Kong

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang sees a future in which high-speed rail links will enable Hong Kongers to live in Guangdong and commute to the city for work.

Although the travel time mentioned, ranging between 15 minutes and 20 minutes, is short, we must bear in mind that this is strictly the time it takes to ride the train; it doesn’t take into account the amount of time required to get from one’s home to the train station at one end and to get from the train station to the office at the other. That could involve time spent waiting for connecting buses or trains as well as additional travel time on these modes of transport.

No one likes commuting, even though the journey may be relatively short, because it’s not pleasant to be packed like sardines on trains and buses.

Tang expects the standard of living in Hong Kong to rise to a point where it would be better for those with a monthly household income of HK$20,000 or so to live across the border and commute into the city to work. He believes this will give them a better quality of life, but will it? Surely a better quality of life can only be achieved when people can spend the time being wasted squeezed into buses and trains on something they enjoy doing instead? And after all the talk about this being the Information Age, surely it makes more sense for people to work from home at least some of the time?

I have a friend whose employer has relocated from Quarry Bay to Tai Po, and as a result she now has to take a train to Admiralty to catch a bus to work. All told, it takes over an hour to get to or from work. Not too bad if you compare it to, say, Britons who have to commute into London from Birmingham, a journey that takes more than two hours.

And yet, all her work can be done on a computer, from home. She could have two extra hours everyday in which to do something that will improve her health and mood, which would translate into better quality work for her employer. Instead, she has to spend it on a commute.

The new towns were conceived as self-sufficient population centres that would provide employment opportunities as well as homes, but poor planning put paid to that and new towners find themselves having to endure these unpleasant journeys every day rather than enjoy time with their families or cultivate interests that will enhance their quality of life.

Why does our government envisage a future in which most people still have to suffer this commute into a centre that is hollowed out every evening as people hurry home like a receding tide? To ensure real estate in prime business districts remain expensive? Employment opportunities near one’s home nurture thriving communities and is also a more efficient use of land. When a city is built around the drudgery of a commute, swathes of land are set aside for roads leading to a town centre that is only functional for half the day.

Just look at Central after seven in the evening. Soho thrives on because it’s close to Mid-Levels homes, but in what the property people call “core Central”, it’s like a ghost town.