Smooth launch for electronic toll system at Lion Rock Tunnel, but ‘real test is today’
The electronic toll system has launched smoothly at the Lion Rock Tunnel connecting the New Territories and Kowloon, but a senior transport official has said the real test lies in whether it can handle today’s peak-hour traffic.
The road tunnel began only accepting payments through the HKeToll system at 5am yesterday, requiring drivers to pay a flat rate of HK$8 through detection tags which are scanned at the toll checkpoints and the fare is then deducted from their online accounts.
Yesterday’s launch was largely uneventful, even though the tunnel, with about 90,000 vehicles passing through it daily, is the busiest toll road so far to adopt the collection system.
Tunnel staff were seen waving their hands to cars slowing down before the closed booths yesterday morning, signalling hesitant drivers to keep going.
A driving instructor, who only gave his surname as Mok, said he drove slowly because he was worried about his tag not working. “I was worried that my tag would not be scanned if I drove too fast,” he said.
Under the new system, road users have to apply for the vehicle tag, open an account online and set up a payment method.
As of 6pm yesterday, a total of 46,949 vehicles passed through the tunnel, of which 5 per cent did not have a tag detected.
Drivers who do not have the tag or a payment method set up will get an electronic notice, requiring them to settle the charges within 14 business days or face a surcharge of HK$175, raised to HK$350 after 21 days.
Earlier in the day, Commissioner for Transport Rosanna Law Shuk-pui was overseeing the final changes being made to the tunnel. Law said on Facebook that a number of vehicles had queued up to pay in cash before the last toll booth closed at 4.30am, a deadline that was met only because of the tunnel operator’s “timely response”.
“This experience was of great value for us as it can help us with implementing the system at the Cross-Harbour Tunnel,” she said, referring to the city’s busiest harbour crossing used by more than 100,000 vehicles a day.
Law said the low traffic volumes on weekends contributed to the smooth launch yesterday.
“Tomorrow’s rush hour will be the real test and we won’t let up,” she said. Law previously said it was unlikely that the new system would initially ease congestion at the tunnel, adding that vehicles would only move faster after motorists familiarised themselves with HKeToll.
The tunnel is the third toll road in the city to adopt the HKeToll system, following smooth launches at the Tsing Sha Control Area on May 7 and the Shing Mun Tunnel on May 21.
The no-stopping toll collection system will be introduced at all government-owned tunnels within the year, including two of the three harbour crossing ones linking Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.
About 60,000 vehicles use the Tsing Sha Control Area each day and 50,000 travel through the Shing Mun Tunnel on a daily basis.