Commuting in Hong Kong

I don't drive. In Hong Kong you don't really need to. However, I have friends who have automobiles and so I know that driving, if you can afford it is still faster than the bus or even a taxi here.

I know a man here whose wife is a CPA. She actually put a pencil to it and figured out that for a family of four it is cheaper to take a taxi everywhere you go than to own a car when you include the taxes, licensing, maintenance and so forth. I'm not sure about that but driving is definitely not a middle class activity here unless you live in one of the government housing projects that provide you with a parking space.

Hong Kong has what must be surely one of the best bus systems in the world. There are also trains and subways which I don't normally take. The subway gives me the creeps because it is just two crowded and the train doesn't go past my job. However, there are still one or two days a month that I wish I had a car. Today was one of those. My bus broke down and I had to sit there until they could tow it to the shoulder and then transfer to another bus. It made me about 30 minutes late for work. If I'd had a car I could have been here on time.


When the school moves to a new location after Christmas break I will no longer have a bus that goes past my job. The time and money required to catch a bus, change to the train and then change trains again is going to be a real hassle. Causeway Bay to Shek Mun must be the only two places in Hong Kong that don't have a nearly direct bus route between them. It may be time to look into a scooter license. I still don't think I want a car.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without a drivers license.

I'M TOO SEXY FOR YOUR BUS

I don't know whether to feel guilty for laughing at this story or not

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who rides the bus

A Heartfelt Thank You!

Sometimes it is little things that make your day.

This morning I got on the bus to come to work and my octopus card was negative. I only had a $500.00 bill and no change. Growl! This normally means riding the bus one stop, getting off, finding a 7-11, charging the card, waiting for another bus and then being late for work. However, when the bus driver saw I had no small bills he said in his best Engrish "OK you sit. OK" I guess he's paid by the hour so it really isn't any skin off his nose if he let's the occasional commuter with a negative card have a free ride But, I was still grateful. Thank You sir. Thank you very much.

Now to a little more grumpy subject.

There was a protest by public housing tenants on Sunday that really bothered me. They were protesting that the parking charges for their automobiles are being raised from HK $100.00 (USD $13.00) to HK $300.00 or $39 US dollars a month.

I can't afford a car. The parking where I live would cost $3500.00 a month and I'd still have to walk three blocks to the car. Why do people that are supposedly so poor that they can't afford housing given access to parking below where they live at 1/10 th the going rate? If they are so poor shouldn't they take mass transit? Hong Kong is the most expensive city in the world to drive in. Public housing tenants shouldn't need parking because if they can afford to drive here they shouldn't need public housing.

This brings up the whole issue of how public housing is done in Hong Kong and why it is problematic. Once someone gets a publicly rented flat they are almost never required to move out or give it up; even if they go on to attain great wealth. I vaguely know a couple (Friends of my wife) who started in public housing probably 30 years ago. They now own a factory and drive a jaguar and live in a big mansion in Melborne. They still rent the public housing flat and let a relative live in it "Just in case they go broke in the future" tenants can also pass a flat along to their children as an inheritance. Pardon me for seeing the potential for huge amount of abuse in such a system.

I find it appalling that better than 50% of Hong Kong residents live in some form of government housing. I have little doubt that because the government is always bending over and dropping its trousers for construction industry to keep the property market at an unnaturally high level most of the tenants of public housing projects could afford no where else to live. Indeed, the way the construction industry is allowed to screw the government here it is a wonder that every female in the Buildings and Lands department isn't carrying a baby fathered by Li Kai Shing. However, I also wonder if the assets and earnings of a significant percentage of public housing tenants were really looked at if it would not be found that they shouldn't be in public housing?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who thinks that the HK Housing Authority could do a better job