Public Transport in Hong Kong
INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong, being one of the most densely populated areas in the world, is also one of the most visited areas in the world. Many tourist attractions lie in wait for the traveler. Furthermore, due to the increasing number of citizens, and the increasing number of tourists every year, Hong Kong has come up with one of the most modern and convenient transport systems in the world. However, as tourists, foreigners must comply with certain requirements in order to be able to be eligible to use the transport system. The requirements are:
1. Require more information than regular/local users
• Times
• Schedules
• Price
• Locations (getting on and off)
• Signage
• Require multilingual (graphic/pictorial) information
• Access to information through different channels
• Information on safety net (for safety/security issues)
2. Provision for luggage (especially families) such as luggage racks and for those with restricted mobility (kneeling buses), etc.
3. Higher expectations of service quality than local users
• Employee efficiency courtesy (inc. language skills) and with good attitude towards tourists
4. Good connections (seamless integration)
5. Integrated ticketing (tourist ticket)
These requirements are seemingly harmless, even helpful to foreign tourists. However, the government should go out of their way to be able to meet the needs of the foreign visitors. In the following pages, we shall discuss, describe and evaluate the transportation systems in Hon Kong.
ROAD TRANSPORT
Road transportation in Hong Kong has a long history. Road transportation, however, can be divided into two subcomponents: buses and taxis. Buses have a variety of uses for tourists as well as the general public. They provide transport from one place to another. Some of them provide transport from one tourist attraction to another, other buses provide transportation from the airport to the hotels, and still others provide transport to virtually anywhere in Hong Kong as public transport buses. Generally, buses in Hong Kong cater to many transporters everyday, almost half of them foreigners, so most of the crew of the operating bus liners is English speaking. Furthermore, with the use of the octopus card, it is a lot easier for foreigners to pay the fair.
Taxis in Hong Kong are one of the most complex and the most easily manageable taxi systems in the world. Hong Kong Taxis can be divided into three sub categories, which are: the Red Taxis, the Green Taxis, and the Blue Taxis, with the latter being the cheapest and the first being the most expensive. The division of labor of transport is divided between the three accordingly. Each colored taxi is designated a specific area to which he can only operate. The red taxis, called urban taxis, cater to most parts of Hong Kong island, with occasional trips to Landau via Tang Chung, Cheek Lap Kook and Disneyland. The green taxi, called New Territories taxi, caters to most of the New Territories with the exception of Cheek Lap Kook and Disneyland. The blue taxis, called Landau taxis, cater to the whole of Landau Island.
CRITICISMS
Though the mode of transportation via taxi is highly modern, it is quite difficult for foreigners to grasp the idea of the taxi system in Hong Kong, especially for those who have not been to Hong Kong or who are not informed about the arrangement. Furthermore, in theory, taxis are not supposed to demy transport to passengers. However, using the Hong Kong mode of transport, passengers, especially foreigners, who are not aware of the routes taken by these taxis can be quite confused.
AIR TRANSPORT
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited is an Asian commercial airline founded in 1946 which is based in Hong Kong and offering passenger services and cargo services to 102 destinations world-wide. It is a flag carrier of Hong Kong with its main base at Hong Kong International Airport.
Cathay Pacific is the major shareholder in ASK Air Hong Kong Limited, an all cargo carrier that offers scheduled services in the Asia region, and is a shareholder in Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited.
Despite the various challenges in which airlines faces, there is an opportunity for e-business. It has been known today that travel and the Internet have a natural association. Cathay Pacific Airways has the potential of this partnership and be successful in consumer e-commerce. In 2000, Cathay Pacific Airways forged ahead with an ambitious goal to become Asia’s leading e-business airline and promptly set up a new cross-functional department staffed by experienced airline people and newly recruited e-business professionals.
Cathay Pacific Airways is committed to invest in services that enhance value to their customers while improving productivity and reducing information technology costs. With this, the company has leveraged to e-business.
Cathay Pacific Airways is known to be Hong Kong’s leading airlines gives them the opportunity to acquire more customers and generate more revenues. People would have more confidence on airlines that are recognized by the award winning bodies because it would make the people have more confidence on flying with the said airlines.
In addition, with Cathay Pacific Airways’ online booking, they give more convenience to their customer giving them the chance to attract more customers especially with people that have no time to go to airlines branches for bookings.
The airline has also an opportunity of technology advancement for easier transaction and operations and for more convenience for customers and employees. Moreover, with its recognition, the airline attracts more opportunities of expansion.
Furthermore, the company has design learning experiences for the employees to deliver consistent good services to customers. The company has encouraged a culture of self responsibility, courage to innovate and openness to collaborate within the organization.
TRAINS
Railway transport in Hong Kong is accomplished via use of the octopus card.
BOAT TRANSPORT
Ferries are a popular transport mode in Hong Kong. Traveling via boat or ferry gives the passenger enough view of the whole Kowloon Island.
DISCUSSION
Tourism is an invisible industry which encompasses the transportation, lodging, and entertainment industries. However, tourism is also invisible to many planners, so tourism development is often left to private developers and leisure service providers. According to Instep (1988, p. 360), scholarship on tourism planning remains scarce some 15 years after it was announced as one of planning’s emerging specializations. Tourism with its substantial positive and negative impacts on social, economic, and environment, planners can no longer afford to dismiss tourism as tangential to other planning functions.
According to Ape (1992) and Ape & Crompton (1998), most tourism planners consider maintaining and improving resident-tourist relations critical to the long-term viability of tourism destinations. Resident attitudes toward tourism development range along a continuum from negative to positive. Despite positive feelings toward tourists, residents often noted specific negative impacts (Mailman and Pizza, 1988). These impacts included increases in unsafe traffic conditions, crime, drug addiction, and alcoholism. Benefits perceived by residents included increased employment opportunities, income, tax revenues, and quality of life. Many tourism researchers have assumed that determining sources of negative impacts can result in policies that mitigate them and improve resident attitudes (Lankford, 1994; Lankford & Howard, 1993). McCool and Martin (1994) hypothesized that residents with strong feelings of community attachment were more likely to have negative attitudes toward tourism development than less attached residents, but their results refuted this notion.
Therefore, quality of service is a significant factor that helps in differentiating service products. According to various literatures, satisfaction of customers is obtain with the deliverance of high quality service and products (Getty & Getty, 2003; Gupta & Chen, 1995; 2000). The concept of service should be approached from the customer’s point of view, since it was his/her perception of the outcome that constituted the service. Customers may have different values and different grounds for assessment and, most of the time they may perceive the same service in different ways.
Hong Kong faces two major areas of potential focus with regard to customer service, that is, passenger service and ticketing.
Previously, studies on the services of airlines have commonly focused on the effect of the five service dimensions of the SERVQUAL on passenger satisfaction and passenger loyalty (Altai, 1992; Sultan & Simpson, 2000; 2002). However, according to Haynes and Percy (1994), “the perceptions of airline service quality are quite diverse and do not seem to fit any single existing quality model such as the SERVQUAL or the SERVER.” This can be implied that the quality of service attributes and dimensions should be aligned to the investigated service environment. Therefore, it is worth deriving the nature of airline service quality dimensions and investigating the effects of derived dimensions of airline service quality, rather than just applying the SERVQUAL dimensions and items.
Value can be defined as customer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given (Zenithal, 1988). Value-added services are ways in which companies can gain competitive advantages in the airline industry (2000). For example, value-added strategies such as frequent flyer programs increase the long-term value of the relationship with the airline, offering greater benefits to repeat passengers than to occasional passengers (1998).
The price to be paid for a service determines, in the passenger’s mind, the level of quality to be demanded (Tobol, 1991). Airline passengers have raised their expectations with regard to the level of service quality, while seeking better value for their money. Satisfying the customers is the ultimate ends of every service-oriented company and is a significant concept in marketing.
Quality management in public administration should be geared towards transportation that is efficient, transparent, and accessible and provides excellent quality service to customers. As a result of quality initiatives, number of governments developed comprehensive strategies to improve public service delivery. To implement such strategies, a number of organizations/organizational divisions have been set up at the central or local levels to facilitate quality management in the public sector. Moreover, private sector is actively involved in government quality initiatives through consulting, training and professional services.
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