Park and ride scheme could have eased congestion

I REFER to the problem of traffic congestion and your report on the comments of the Secretary for Transport Mr Michael Leung, on January 12, in which he said that people should leave their cars at home and travel by public transport.

What Mr Leung has overlooked is that many car, van, and even lorry drivers would often prefer to leave their vehicles at home, but they do not have a legal parking space at home. Consequently, although they may get away with illegal roadside or pavement parking at night, if they were to leave their vehicles parked in the same place in the daytime they would either receive a fine or be towed away.

I remember writing to the Post more than a decade ago suggesting that you should only be allowed to purchase a car if you have a registered parking place - of course it is far too late to attempt to do that now, but many people (myself included) would love to leave their car at home given the opportunity.

I have worn out four cars over the past 30 years just driving the same piece of road from Clear Water Bay to Tsim Sha Tsui and back.

When the Mass Transit Railway was built I thought that the fringe stations would all have multi-storey car-parks so that a park and ride scheme could be introduced but that never came about; in fact this could still be done in many places.

With regard to my own situation in Clear Water Bay. I thought that when the station was built at Choi Hung, the old people's home next to the fire station would be moved to a more enjoyable site in the country where the old people could have peace and quiet plus pollution-free air, and the large area they presently occupy would be used for a multi-storey car-park, so we could all leave our cars there and take the MTR. However, in realty it is so poorly arranged that it is difficult to be dropped off and even your taxi is often waved on by the police.