Resuming work Monday justifiable move

Super Typhoon Mangkhut, the most powerful one since Typhoon Hope in 1979, brought the city to a standstill with massive uprooting of trees across the city and serious flooding near the coastline and low-lying areas like Tai O and Lei Yue Mun. While it is good news that no fatalities were reported, the public did struggle with the aftermath of Mangkhut on Monday when a large portion of bus services were still suspended and the MTR was not able to accommodate a spike in commuters in certain train stations.

The government made a timely announcement to call off classes on Monday followed by a notice later in the afternoon to suspend lessons on Tuesday. The well-informed decision has taken into account the substantial amount of time required to clear some 1,500 trees that have blocked 600 major sections of road in the city. In truth, it already helped reduce approximately 1 million commuters — kindergarten, primary, secondary and university students — from using the burdened public transportation system.

But then, some have voiced grievances against the government for not also suspending work for the public on Monday in view of the transportation chaos. However, in reality, the administration took the optimal move that minimized disruption to traffic as well as financial losses to the city. Hong Kong, as an important financial center, cannot afford to have a mandate of fullday business closure under non-life threatening weather conditions. For instance, the cancellation of a work day would cost the local bourse as much as HK$117.4 billion in securities turnover. Given the normalization of weather conditions, the partial suspension of public transportation should not be a reason for work suspensions, which would come with an unnecessary cost for the city. Acknowledging the paralysis in the public transport, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor urged all employers to take considerate and flexible measures and not to punish workers for late arrival. This arrangement indeed addressed the inconvenience to employees while minimizing the financial impact on the city.

The suspension of some bus routes, though imposing a severe burden on the railway service, is understandable as many arteries are still being blocked by fallen trees and other debris. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that the posttyphoon traffic arrangements have some room for improvement. In particular, the MTR ought to take a lesson from this experience by improving its notification system, so that stranded passengers would not waste time waiting at stations where there is no or reduced train and feeder bus services. Better crowd control and traffic arrangements can also be made at some notably congested stations, such as Tai Wai, in future.