Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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In order to maintain a sustainable growth rate of its vehicle population, Singapore has adopted a
Vehicle Quota System (VQS) policy since 1990. The VQS works by determining a suitable number of
new vehicles allowed for registration annually and subsequently let- ting market forces determine the
price of ownership via bidding. Using the VQS, the vehicle growth rate has been kept in tandem with
the rate of road development. The rate of road development from 1990 to 2006 was about 1.0% p.a.
but it is projected to be only 0.5% p.a. over the next 15 years. In addition to purchase based
constraints, road pricing was adopted in 1975 as a usage based tax system mainly to reduce
congestion by discouraging travel on expressways and major arterials towards the Central Business
District (CBD) during peak hours (Lam and Toan, 2006; Haque et al, 2013).
One of the main lessons learned from Singapore is that fiscal measures of restraining car ownership
are effective only up to a certain point. Under conditions of rapidly rising incomes, car ownership
increases quickly despite high prices. This is because demand for cars is more income elastic than
price elastic. In the end, the growth of car population can only be arrested by more radical measures
such as the VQS. Singapore adopted the VQS which was implemented as a supporting measure to
control motorization more effectively after two decades of road pricing (Barter, 2004; Olszewski,
2007).
Hong Kong: transport, land use and intense market competition
Hong Kong has been growing rapidly in population and population density in the past four decades
due to migration and its relatively small portion of usable land for development. Since the 1970s nine
new towns were developed to cope with the population growth were developed and 43km2 of land
were reclaimed to cope with population growth. Hong Kong has experienced. Transport systems and
other supporting infrastructure were developed to link the new cities with the traditional urban core
areas and big part of the development was built along major transportation arteries (Tang and Lo,
2008; Loo and Chow, 2006).
Similar to Singapore, Hong Kong has adopted a coordinated and integrated transport and land use
planning approach combined with policies of limiting private car ownership and usage. The land
development strategies have been a catalyst for the high population density sustaining over the years.
On the one hand, the controlled supply has put the prices of land and property on the fast rising track.
As a result, the average income from land premium has contributed to over three quarters of funds
for capital works in the territory. On the other hand, the high density residential estates built around
railway stations have further formed a large pool of potential passengers to support the operation of
mass transit railways and the payback for the investment. At the same time, the limited space and high
population density of the territory have shaped the transport policy of giving priority to mass carriers
especially off street modes that do not occupy road space, and controlling the growth of private cars.
New private cars in Hong Kong are subject to the first registration tax from35% to 100%of the vehicle
cost. In addition to ownership control, car usage has also been discouraged through high fuel tax. The
limited number of parking spaces and hence the high garage cost and parking charge especially in
urban areas further discouraged owning and using a car in Hong Kong (Tang and Lo, 2008).
However, the major lessons to be learnt from Hong Kong are related to service regulation and
prioritisation. Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) was constructed in the 1970s to provide an
off street, efficient means of travel through the urban areas. The Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR) was
also electrified in 1982 to provide transit services for the suburban New Territories and to support
the development of new towns. Both railways were corporatized to operate in prudent commercial
principles in accordance with their respective ordinances, although they were wholly owned by the
government. In October 2000, MTR was privatised and since then her shares have been traded on the
stock exchange of Hong Kong (Tang and Lo, 2008).
The transport policy adopted in the 1980s focused on an integrated public transport system defined
the non-rail modes as the feeding role and prevented direct competition in order to secure the return
of public investments on the railways and minimize wasteful duplication of resources. Franchised bus