Chitchat Experiencing Hong Kong MTR

[Froggy]

So last week I was in Hong Kong for 5 days, everyday has to take the MTR for my travelling mostly in the mornings and evenings mostly peak hours like this

Timed their extra long trains comes almost every minute without a hitch

All 5 days there not encountered any problem or heard of any delays

I wonder what made them so good compared to Singapore, both were ex British colony yet come to transport Singapore lacks behind

 

[ckmpd]

The difference is HK gets professionals to run their MTR and SG gets cronies who are not familiar with train operations to run our MRT.

The root cause is pap's cronyism and nepotism

 

[gingerlyn]

MRT is operated by Hong Kongers.
Here SMRT is operated by mainly Malay and Indian. You know their skills and character.
MRT management team is professional while SMRT is run by army.

 

[bobby]

MRT is operated by Hong Kongers.
Here SMRT is operated by mainly Malay and Indian. You know their skills and character.
MRT management team is professional while SMRT is run by army.

Another big difference...MTR never once boasted they were "First Class".

 

[Froggy]

Another big difference...MTR never once boasted they were "First Class".

You mean "First Crass"?

 

[eatshitndie]

of course lah, compare hk mtr map with smrt map. hk mtr is very sparse and simple with less stations and transfer stations. so much white space. very easy to run and maintain.

 

[eatshitndie]

no apple to apple but more like kumquat to durian comparison. just look at the compactness and density of the sg mrt. no horse run.

 

[yellowarse]

Old article, but worth revisiting. HK MTR doesn't need to proclaim itself as 'first class"; that's because the whole world recognises it as the gold standard for mass transit management.

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The Unique Genius of Hong Kong's Public Transportation System

The use of a clever financing system has enabled the territory to provide world-class service—without breaking the bank.

NEIL PADUKONE

SEP 10, 2013

Passengers walk out of MTR railway carriage featuring Disney characters in the Sunny Bay station in Hong Kong. (Paul Yeung/Reuters)

New Yorkers are famous for complaining about the city's subway: despite an ever-increasing rise in fares, service never seems to get any better. And even still, ticket-sales still only funds part of the New York City subway system; the city still relies on supplementary taxes and government grants to keep trains running, as fares only cover about 45 percent of the day-to-day operating costs. Capital costs (system expansions, upgrades, and repairs) are an entirely different question, and require more state and federal grants as well as capital market bonds. And New York’s system is not unique: as in other cities, New York struggles to pay existing expenses and must go into debt to pay for upgrades, that is, without raising prices.

Is this problem intractable? Not exactly. Take Hong Kong for example: The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation, which manages the subway and bus systems on Hong Kong Island and, since 2006, in the northern part of Kowloon, is considered the gold standard for transit management worldwide. In 2012, the MTR produced revenue of 36 billion Hong Kong Dollars (about U.S $5 billion)—turning a profit of $2 billion in the process. Most impressively, the farebox recovery ratio (the percentage of operational costs covered by fares) for the system was 185 percent, the world's highest. Worldwide, these numbers are practically unheard of—the next highest urban ratio, Singapore, is a mere 125 percent.

In addition to Hong Kong, the MTR Corporation runs individual subway lines in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen in China, two lines in the London Underground, and the entire Melbourne and Stockholm systems. And in Hong Kong, the trains provide services unseen in many other systems around the world: stations have public computers, wheelchair and stroller accessibility (and the space within the train to store them), glass doors blocking the tracks, interoperable touch-and-go fare payment (which also works as a debit card in local retail), clear and sensible signage, and, on longer-distance subways, first-class cars for people who are willing to pay extra for a little leg space.

How can Hong Kong afford all of this? The answer is deceptively simple: “Value Capture.”

Like no other system in the world, the MTR understands the monetary value of urban density—in other words, what economists call "agglomeration.” Hong Kong is one of the world’s densest cities, and businesses depend on the metro to ferry customers from one side of the territory to another. As a result, the MTR strikes a bargain with shop owners: In exchange for transporting customers, the transit agency receives a cut of the mall’s profit, signs a co-ownership agreement, or accepts a percentage of property development fees. In many cases, the MTR owns the entire mall itself. The Hong Kong metro essentially functions as part of a vertically integrated business that, through a "rail plus property" model, controls both the means of transit and the places passengers visit upon departure. Two of the tallest skyscrapers in Hong Kong are MTR properties, as are many of the offices, malls, and residences next to every transit station (some of which even have direct underground connections to the train). Not to mention, all of the retail within subway stations, which themselves double as large shopping complexes, is leased from MTR.

The profits from these real estate ventures, as well as that 85 percent farebox surplus, subsidize transit development: proceeds pay for capital expansion as well as upgrades. The MTR’s financial largesse means that the transit system requires less maintenance and service interruptions, which in turn reduces operating costs, streamlines capital investments, and encourages more people to use transit to get around. And more customers means more money, even if fares are relatively cheap: most commutes fall between HK $4 and HK$20 (about 50 cents to $3), depending on distance. (In London, by comparison, a Tube journey can cost as much as $18). Fare increases in Hong Kong are limited by regulations linking fares to inflation and profits, and the territory’s government recently started giving a HK $600-per-month travel stipend to low-income households, defined as those earning less than HK $10,000 a month.

This model of transit management works partly because Hong Kong is a closed system: There are no suburbs from which people can commute by car, so there are strong incentives for everyone within the territory to use the system. This feature, combined with other regulations, has kept car ownership low: 6 of every 100 vehicles in Hong Kong are for personal use, whereas the number in the U.S. is closer to 70. And while the NYC subway was built over a century ago and was neglected during much of the 20th century’s suburban sprawl, Hong Kong’s metro was only developed in the late 1970s. As a result, it doesn’t have to rely on signals technologies from the 1930s that are only slowly being upgraded (hence the track closures in New York).

As an independent corporation with the government serving as majority shareholder (rather than a public agency, ministry, or authority), the MTR has the freedom to develop real estate, to hire and fire who it will, and to take business-minded decisions—whereas other transit systems, including the one in New York, must deal with union contracts and legal restrictions. In Hong Kong, these value charges are often displaced onto consumers, causing real estate prices to go up a little faster than they otherwise might.

Still, value capture is a powerful idea for transit management. New York has tested the waters of this approach with its $2 billion 7-train extension to the Hudson Yards project, working with the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the project’s developers to fund the extension with property taxes from the newly served area. Dedicated taxes, too, serve a similar purpose. But fundamentally, Hong Kong’s metro succeeds because it understands that a subway system is more than just a means of transportation—it is also essential to the well-being of a city’s population and economy.

 

[yellowarse]

Newer article from Dec 2016: still the gold standard.

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The model behind HK MTR's gold standard​

Friday, December 30, 2016 - 05:50
by
HOE PEI SHAN​

The opening of Hong Kong's HK$16.9 billion (S$3.2 billion) South Island Line -
the city's first new railway line in 10 years - went smoothly on Wednesday,
epitomizing the network's reputation as the global gold standard in performance reliability.
PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES

THE opening of Hong Kong's HK$16.9 billion (S$3.2 billion) South Island Line - the city's first new railway line in 10 years - went smoothly on Wednesday, epitomizing the network's reputation as the global gold standard in performance reliability. Or as Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan puts it: "The best in class".

Driving Hong Kong's MTR success is a business model incorporating expanding property development and investment that helps fund rail network growth, maintenance, upgrading and operations.

Last month, Mr Khaw told Parliament that Singapore's MRT system, which had one disruption for every 158,000 train-km travelled in the first six months of this year, is "still quite far off Hong Kong MTR's performance" of having one disruption for every 360,000 train-km. The MTR has maintained a 99.9 per cent on-time performance for years, including into the first quarter of 2016, according to latest figures provided by its operator, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed MTR Corp (MTRC).

"This is not easy to achieve and is becoming more challenging as we carry more passengers and operate more train services which places an increasing strain on our infrastructure and railway assets," MTRC's managing director of operations and mainland business Jacob Kam told The Business Times.

He attributed MTR's high performance standards to a "very stringent maintenance regime", with his company investing over HK$7 billion on maintenance, renewal and upgrading of infrastructure and assets in the past year.

Whenever disruptions occur - the MTR suffered two major disruptions in the first quarter lasting more than half an hour, and seven such incidents for the whole of 2015, down from nine in 2014 - MTR's centralised Operations Control Centre (OCC) helps coordinate quick and effective responses. "The centralisation of our OCCs in a 'Super OCC' at Tsing Yi allows staff to watch over the whole integrated railway network 24 hours a day, including during overnight maintenance in non-service hours," said Dr Kam. "Bringing the controls of all the lines under one roof makes it easier for controllers to assess situations... and decide on the appropriate action to take."

Solid finances help ensure maintenance and operations are well-oiled. "MTR has a sustainable business model which is key to our long-term success," said Dr Kam.

Unique to Hong Kong is the MTR's "Rail + Property" model, under which the government gives MTRC land development rights around train stations in exchange for building new lines. This allows MTRC to further generate revenue apart from fares, such as by managing third-party residential and commercial properties, developing shopping malls and residences, and renting out real estate.

Fare revenues remain stable, said Dr Kam, on top of "significant earnings from our station commercial business" and a "strong base" from property development earnings, which are "more cyclical and vary from year to year".

As of June 30, MTRC's attributable share of investment properties in Hong Kong was 212,301 sq m of lettable retail floor area, 39,410 sq m of lettable office space, and 15,267 sq m of property for other use. Its investment properties include 13 shopping malls, among them the luxury Elements mall built atop the Kowloon MTR station catering to city metro lines and an airport express stop.

MTRC is anticipating a "significant expansion" of their investment properties portfolio in Hong Kong with the addition of 120,620 sq m in gross floor area in the next five years to increase its retail portfolio by about 40 per cent, according to the company's 2016 interim report.

As for MTRC's Hong Kong property rental and property management businesses, revenue in the first half of 2016 grew by 4.6 per cent to HK$2.36 billion, with shopping malls in Hong Kong and the company's 18 floors at Two International Finance Centre office building remaining "close to 100 per cent let".

MTRC also has nine property development packages that will provide over 16,000 housing units when completed in the coming years.

"Our Rail + Property model... is financially and environmentally sustainable in the long term, and is recognised internationally as a leading model for transit-oriented development," Dr Kam said.

MTRC's model enables the company to "have free hands to focus on transportation", said transport analyst Dr Lee Der-Horng, a professor at the National University of Singapore's department of civil and environmental engineering. "They are able to spend more of their corporate revenue on repair and maintenance."

"What really strikes me is that Hong Kong seems to be more daring in spending. If not for their non-transportation income, I don't think they'd be in the position to do those things in that way."

But such a property-reliant model also comes with potential risks, added Dr Lee.

"Hong Kong is very small," he said. "The day MTR doesn't have any new playgrounds given by the government, there will be little room for further development."

 

[eatshitndie]

5-hour disruption in mtr service due to power issues.

http://hongkongbusiness.hk/transpor...ur-train-service-disruption-due-power-failure

 

[eatshitndie]

mtr island line failure. if no failure i worry.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPEug2tW8I

 

[yellowarse]

5-hour disruption in mtr service due to power issues.

Rest assured there won't be any disruption for the next 360,000 train-km.

Last month, Mr Khaw told Parliament that Singapore's MRT system, which had one disruption for every 158,000 train-km travelled in the first six months of this year, is "still quite far off Hong Kong MTR's performance" of having one disruption for every 360,000 train-km.​

 

[scroobal]

HK MTR was used as a model of success by Old Man to push our MRT agenda with the likes of GKS. He actually wanted to change Singapore's work patterns as studies showed that HK ridership was consistently high over many hours rather than the usual peak and troughs. HK economy was also around the clock. As 12 midnight, the streets are still busy.

Anyway when Desmond brought in his Army friends only 2 exceptions were made for the leadership tam. A Indian lady from an external agency to run PR and a HK chap from MTR to run engineering. I think he was appointed shortly before Desmond. Both did not last. The lady threw in the towel less than a year and made it clear that she found the team dysfunctional. The HK chap also did not last. He got a former SADA Colonel who was brought into run security after their fences were breached by graffiti vandals to replace the PR lady.

MTR before we started our MRT was run by professionals and it continues to do so. Not by some kid who was chosen at 18 as leadership material and his friends from his past.

 

[eatshitndie]

Rest assured there won't be any disruption for the next 360,000 train-km.

Last month, Mr Khaw told Parliament that Singapore's MRT system, which had one disruption for every 158,000 train-km travelled in the first six months of this year, is "still quite far off Hong Kong MTR's performance" of having one disruption for every 360,000 train-km.​

insulators under the worst condition last about 30 years in cooler climates. in sg they should last about 20 years. both forgot to check their conditions and replace them accordingly until breakdowns occurred.

 

[frenchbriefs]

Don't be silly,MTR is first and foremost a real estate company not a transportation company.ask Ray croc if McDonald's sell hamburgers and the answer is no.80 percent of Mickey D's profits comes from rent and franchise fees.MTR has exclusive rights to the densest most trafficked malls in the

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

MRT is operated by Hong Kongers.
Here SMRT is operated by mainly Malay and Indian. You know their skills and character.
MRT management team is professional while SMRT is run by army.

These buggers sure know how to fuck everything up.

 

[kezgtree]

The difference is HK gets professionals to run their MTR and SG gets cronies who are not familiar with train operations to run our MRT.

The root cause is pap's cronyism and nepotism

....I could not agree more than this...the big question is WHY don't they seek the expert that have run systems for so many decade before us...

 

[batman1]

When u have a corrupt,collusive and nepotistic govt.,everything seems to be falling apart and collapsing and the cogs in the system breaking down.

 

[blackmore]

....I could not agree more than this...the big question is WHY don't they seek the expert that have run systems for so many decade before us...

The problem in our sinkie land culture; no one want to rock the boat even we know the problem exists right in front of us. Its the "does it benefit me mentality else dun bother".

For HK's MTR; they are more customer centric and the work culture allows feedback to be heard seriously at all levels. In Sinkieland, whatever can cover up gets cover up.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

One other thing I notice about HK...people have the options for either bus or MTRS...my frens all take bus as they find it more convenient..whereas in spore trains are a necessity as once a train stn is built the bus service gets reduced or totally stopped. Buses n Trains compete with each other for biz. Where as in spore trains n buses are one big monopoly.