My letter, trying to be diplomatic, but not completely succeeding:
Feel free to reuse any of this in your own letters.
<hr><hr>
Ms. Maisie Cheng,
Acting Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing
CC: Email :
ds1@thb.gov.hk,
sthoffice@thb.gov.hk
22ND Floor, East Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong
Dear Ms Cheng,
I am writing in objection to the gazetted project CPA Plan No. PW-GS11-009.
I am a resident of Yung Shue Wan, Lamma and my wife , daughter and myself travel to the Yung Shue Wan ferry daily by bicycle. We lock our bikes to the railings of the pier, along with several hundred other Lamma residents, and we will all be adversely affected by the unsuitable location and poor design of the proposed "Cycle Parking Area" gazetted by your department.
The stated justification: "to meet local demand and alleviate safety risks arising from illegally parked bicycles." is unsubstantiated.
1) "Demand": The "demand" is from the District Councillor, Yu Lai Fan, who never raised this topic in any public venue. She seems to act simply to secure the maximum amount of money possible for local construction contracts, regardless of any other consideration.
2) "Safety risks". Commuters have been parking bikes along the pier on Lamma for 30 or 40 years. (I, my wife and more recently my daughter) have been doing so for the last 20 years. I have never seen any hint of "danger". I have asked the proponents of this plan -- HAD and the District Councillor Yu Lai Fan -- to explain the "risk" that justifies spending $18 million and inconveniencing thousands of cyclists. There was no response, other than to simply repeat that it is a "safety risk".
The safety risks that will be created to users by the closely packed CPA, with restricted access, are much greater than any imagined, and never realised, risk to pedestrians on the pier now.
There is a minor inconvenience with some cyclists leaving their bikes "double parked" close to the pier gateway.
A much simpler and cheaper method of dealing with the small (perhaps 5 bikes in total ) that do this would be to formalise the current ad hoc arrangement and mark the area where bikes can be parked, say within 1 metre of the railings, and add signage to that effect, stating that bikes should be secured to the railings.
Then there would be a clear passage of at least 4 metres for pedestrians. Currently at the end of the pier, pedestrians come to Lamma's "Main Street", which is 2.2 metres wide; some parts less than 2 metres, so spending $18 million to make a 6 metre wide passage for the length of the pier is a foolish waste that would just exacerbate the bottleneck at the end of the pier..
A relatively small amount of money - perhaps $100,000, 0.5% of the proposed budget of the CPA, could be used to provide angled bicycle racks along the pier. This would ensure orderly parking. There is no technical reason not to do this. The racks would be negligibly heavier than the existing railings.
Aside from the outrageous cost -- $50,000 per bicycle -- of the CPA which I am surprised the government is happy to waste, the design of the CPA is poor. It is similar, but smaller and less convenient, to the CPA in Mui Wo, which is unpopular with residents. The access to the area will be easily blocked by a few carelessly parked -- and probably locked -- bikes. The linear arrangement of bikes along the railings now provides maximum accessibility to all users.
I have attempted to discuss the design of the CPA with HAD and CEDD. I have asked them what research they have read or done on bicycle parking, what principles were used. There was none, and no surveys of cycling on Lamma; the only district of Hong Kong where there is no other form of transport except cycling. Many cities around the world (e.g. Melbourne, Australia: see
http://www.bv.com.au/general/bike-parking-experts/ ) take cycling as a serious mode of transport and have standards that could be applied. Here, the design principle applied was "stack as closely as possible", with no regard for how commuters are supposed to access their bikes, when dozens of them need to park and retrieve their bikes simultaneously when a ferry (holding up to 400 passengers) arrives or departs.
You should note that HAD asked the Green Lantau Association to comment on the plan in February 2009. Green Lantau pointed out the exact shortcomings I have, they mentioned the problems of the Mui Wo parking areas that this will repeat,and suggested the pier be renovated and bicycle parking along it be incorporated as a much better, and much cheaper, solution for all concerned. HAD buried this response, as they did later ones by Living Lamma, myself and many other individuals, and only cites statements by the District Councillor in support of this plan.
Alan Sargent
Lamma Island
4 March 2012
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