Park'n Walk

Let me explore the fracas surrounding the closure of the Murray Road Car Park to show why we need a ‘Park’n Walk’ strategy.

Government closed Central’s Murray Road Car Park in April and sold the site in May. The tender price hit a record high of 23.28bln. It will become a commercial tower with 40,000 square metres of Grade A office space. The sale is part of a policy to increase commercial floor area in core business districts. Next up are Queensway Plaza and the government’s offices in Wan Chai.

Not everyone is happy with the closure of Murray Road Car Park. The loss of the 388 parking spaces is expected to be a disaster for traffic conditions. The many chauffeur driven cars that used this car park are now expected to roam the streets of Central, blocking traffic to wait for their employers.

The Transport Department counters that, save for motorbikes, there is sufficient space in nearby car parks. But there is a snag. The available spaces are in Cheung Kong Centre. Those familiar with traffic flows in Central will see the foolishness here. The queue of traffic to go down the ramp in front of Bank of China onto Queen’s Road regularly causes back ups all the way to Wanchai. And vehicles leaving Cheung Kong Centre car park will further immobilize the Ice House and Pedder Street junctions.

That is why we at Designing Hong Kong asked the government to delay the closure and sale of Murray Car Park, and first redevelop the City Hall Car Park into a large multi-storey structure, connected with a footbridge to the AIA Central building.

Let’s be clear – we are not asking for more car parking spaces. We urge to reduce the number of parking spaces planned for the redevelopment of Murray Car Park and Hutchison House.

Instead, we recommend rethinking where we locate car parking spaces.

If we rebuild City Hall Car Park, we could effectively shift the parking spaces from the south to the north of Connaught Road. This will stop vehicles circulating in congested areas and allow direct access from the main roads. From there, we need footbridges and tunnels to make it easy to walk the rest of Central.

This is a ‘Park’n Walk’ strategy. It requires joined-up thinking by the Development Bureau, which wants to sell land; Transport Department, which wants to reduce congestion; Planning Department, which determines where parking spaces are added; and the LCSD which wants to expand City Hall by removing the car park. Not only does LCSD’s plan make it harder to implement the proposed strategy, it flies in the face of decisions by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to reduce new venue spaces and cancel the Medium Theatre II, Multi Performance Venue and Centre for Contemporary Performance.

What we propose is nothing new. Rumsey Street Car Park fulfills exactly this ‘Park’n Walk’ strategy for Sheung Wan. And the Star Ferry Car Park and underpass facilitate ‘Park’n Walk’ for the area near Pedder Street. Let’s recognize what works and expand the coverage in Central, in Wanchai and Causeway Bay and older urban areas in Kowloon and the New Territories before we open our borders for more vehicles.

(First published in Southside, Sai Kung, and Midlevels, publications by Fast Media)

Paul Zimmerman is an elected District Councillor for Pokfulam, CEO of Designing Hong Kong, Chairman of The Professional Commons.

Park'n Walk

容我略談關閉美利道停車場的爭議以及推動Park’n Walk（即將停車場設置於主要道路的出入口，並增建行人設施，讓市民泊車後徒步至內街）的必要。

政府在四月尾關閉美利道停車場，並在五月將其招標發售。數年後，身價232.8億元的地王之上將建成4萬平方米的甲級商廈。政府此舉的目的為增加核心地區的商業土地供應，而下一步將為金鐘廊及灣仔政府大樓。當然，地王發售，市民有悲有喜。減少了388車位，意味着一眾以往使用美利道停車場的柴可夫司機或會在中環一帶違法泊車，區內交通令人擔憂。

運輸署回應指，附近泊位如長江中心現時仍有充足的汽車泊位，故除電單車以外，一般汽車的泊車需求不會構成問題。然而，這一粗疏說法郤沒有考慮到中環一帶實際的交通狀況。現時經由中銀對出天橋進入皇后大道中的車龍時常倒塞，龍尾可引伸至灣仔，而駛離長江中心停車場的車輛引致雪廠街及畢打街堵塞，令中環一帶交通更為惡化。因此，創建香港向城規會提請暫緩關閉及發售美利道停車場，並要求政府先將大會堂停車場加高擴建，同時加建天橋連接大會堂停車場至AIA友邦金融中心。

話雖如此，我們的原意卻不是希望政府增加區內泊位。反之，我們在提案中表明要求減少美利道及和記大廈停車場未來提供的泊位，並促請政府反思停車場的地點。假若能擴建大會堂停車場，我們將能夠把汽車泊位由干諾道中以南移至北邊。此舉既能避免停泊車輛進入繁忙路段，從而減輕中環交通堵塞問題，亦能讓汽車直接由主要路段入停車場，並讓乘客經由行人天橋及隧道前往中環各處。

總而言之，以上就是我們所提倡的Park’n Walk。而實踐以上所想，則需要平衡不同政府部門利益，包括發展局的賣地需要、運輸署的路面管理、城規會的就停車場泊位的規劃、康文署移除大會堂停車場以擴建大會堂的計劃等等。此外，西九文化局計劃減少西九的表演場地，亦令康文署更傾向於擴建中環大會堂。

事實上，我們所主張的並非甚麼新鮮事。林士街停事場正正是在上環實行Park’n Walk的成功例子，而天星碼頭停車場亦能讓市民方便快捷地經由隧道直接通往畢打街。港珠澳大橋將在不久時日內通車。然而，交通堵塞之不治，又何以談及開放邊境予外地車輛？故此，我們的當務之急，是認清哪些停車區選址及配套能妥善的進行交通分流，並繼續在中環、灣仔及銅鑼灣，以至是一些較舊的九龍及新界地區拓展以上設施，從而應付未來車輛的需要。

（此文章先於Fast Media 旗下的Southside, Sai Kung和Midlevels發布）

司馬文為薄扶林區區議員，創建香港的行政總裁及公共專業聯盟的主席。