Hong Kong’s lack of bus shelters is a blot on its ‘world-class transport system’
A few days ago, I decided to take a minibus from Cyberport to Causeway Bay. Inside the dark, airless concrete warehouse which passes for a bus and minibus station, the temperature was 36 degrees Celsius.
It seems to be deliberately designed so that no breeze can penetrate and there is, of course, not a single fan. The passengers had sweat running down their faces. In Singapore, there are fans even in the outdoor bus shelters but of course in Hong Kong, not only can’t we provide fans, we can’t provide bus shelters.
As usual, the focus of this government is on the wealthy
On the route from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen, there are 18 bus stops and not a single bus shelter. Below my flat there are homes for the aged, rehabilitation centres and a children’s hospital. In the summer, the young, old, disabled, those on crutches and in plaster casts, stand waiting for a bus in the full heat of the sun. In the winter, they stand in the pouring rain.
How much of our enormous, bloated fiscal surplus would it take to provide some shelter from the elements?
Our legislators urge people to use Hong Kong’s so-called world-class public transport system.
I wonder how many of them have actually stood and waited for a bus or a minibus?