Ordinary Gweilo

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The cash economy

Mar 16, 2004

Hong Kong has a number of tunnels (and one bridge) that you have to pay to use. If you want to drive from Kowloon to Hong Kong (or vice versa) or from the New Territories to the Airport (or Tung Chung) you have no choice but to pay for the privilege. The other tunnels offer more direct (and hence quicker) routes into or around the New Territories.

You can pay the toll in cash, or automatically by using Autotoll. There is no discount for using Autotoll, and you have to pay in advance, but it saves you time. I don’t have a car, and hence the dearth of posts about the poor standard of driving in Hong Kong that you will find from Monsieur Merde and Giles the Rugby Fan. [I did have my eye on the extremely elegant Renault Vel Satis, but Fumier has persuaded me to consider a convertible – a 1992 yellow Saab or an old model 3-series – which are probably even more desirable.]

As a taxi user, I always hope that the cab has an Autotoll thingy, but I am usually disappointed. After all, what’s the incentive for a driver to pay in advance for something that will get him to his destination marginally quicker? If he has to queue up to pay the toll, it’s the customer who is paying for the time, and it seems to provide a good opportunity to get some change (for when Fumier jumps into your cab with nothing smaller than a $50 note).

Sitting in a small box for several hours at a time breathing in exhaust fumes and collecting small sums of money must be one of the more pointless human activities, especially when we have the technology to render it virtually obsolete. If I were in charge of Hong Kong transport policy I’d be trying to find a way to get more private cars and all taxis and commercial vehicles to use Autotoll. The complication is that apart from the (original) Cross Harbour Tunnel, all of these ventures (including Autotoll) are privately-run commercial enterprises. However, there must be a way of doing it if the government was really determined. So, no chance then…

Posted in Life in Hong Kong

5 responses to “The cash economy”

henry

Mar 17, 2004

autotoll is nothing to do with the government, it’s run by our old friend, Mr Li.
and the reason why a lot of people don’t use it is because it costs $35 a month service fee just to have the thing in your car. Plus at rush hour, going through the autotoll queue can actually take longer than paying the cash.
oh, and as for buying a car, get an asian made one, the insurance is cheaper!

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Ron

Mar 17, 2004

Henry is right.
Besides, (usually) two taxi drivers rent the same taxi during different shifts (5 AM to 5 PM and then second shift again upto 5 AM).
Question is, which driver will pay the advance for the Auto Toll and even if they did, they would have the additional responsibility of doing tunnel accounting (as in how many times, which tunnel, how much, etc.) so that neither driver ends up paying other driver’s tunnel tolls.
The alternative of paying cash is easier for them. However, they could use tunnel vouchers but that is a different story.
Cheers!

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fumier

Mar 17, 2004

My goodness – 3 links to my site in one post. My traffic will be soaring!
The cheque’s in the post.

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Simon

Mar 17, 2004

There is a solution – in Australia more and more toll roads are fully electronic, you cannot use cash. There are fines if you don’t have a tag, but usually with a 24 hour lee-way so you can pay if you are just passing once.
While they’re at it they should at least make the tolls of each cross harbour tunnel the same – it is ridiculous that the Central tunnel is cheaper.

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Chris

Mar 17, 2004

Singapore’s ERP system works the same way, and London now has congestion charging, so it certainly can be done!
There have been various suggestions for adjusting the tunnel tolls to re-distribute traffic more evenly, but the government did increase the Cross-Harbour Tunnels when it took back ownership (except for taxis, which now only pay $10). Perhaps our motoring correspondent can update us on the tolls.

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