Kowloon to Hong Kong Island East: Urban Cycling in Hong Kong

Authors. GHALE Pema Chheten, LAU Nam Hung Benson, MAK Yim Ching Stephany

It is estimated that “there are 3,200 avoidable deaths a year in Hong Kong due to air pollution” (Stevens, 2012). This highlights the severity of the air quality in this city. We can reduce at least one of the four main sources of pollution (Environmental Protection Department), motor vehicles, by opting for cycling as a mode of transport. However, Hong Kong’s current infrastructure cannot accommodate cycling and very few people own bikes.

Our team of three, explored a small route that passed through each of our neighbourhood’s and identified what infrastructure can be added / changed. We have also noted other essential changes that must occur for our vision to be successful (see diagram 2).

According to cooltheworld.com, if I travelled this proposed route (on a small petrol car) every day, I would release around 0.13 tons of carbon per year! In 2010, Hong Kong’s population was 7,067,800. Had each of these people opted to travel just 20km of their travel per day on bikes rather than cars, Hong Kong would have released (0.13 X 2067800) 268,814 tons of CO2 in just a year!

Imagine the impact as we continue to bike for years to come in the future. Our vision can also help tackle other problems (although it was not directly aimed to do so) as shown on diagram 1.