Tolls of two cross-harbor tunnels rise from Aug 2, west tunnel cut by HK$15

Hong Kong’s two cross-harbor tunnels will increase their tolls to HK$30 from August 2, with the fare from traveling through Western Harbor Crossing(WHC) down by HK$15.

The Transport Bureau announced on Wednesday morning that the new standard of the city’s cross-harbor tunnel charges would be implemented in two phases - firstly, adjusting the toll for three tunnels in August and introducing a "time-varying tolls" mechanism no later than the end of this year.

The arrangements were approved by the Executive Council yesterday.

Under the new arrangements, private car tolls for WHC will be cut to HK$60 from the current HK$75; while the Eastern Harbor Crossing(EHC) and Cross-Harbor Tunnel(CHT) seeing their tolls increase to HK$30 from HK$20 and HK$25 respectively.

However, taxis traveling through the tunnels will have a standardized toll of HK$25 with the new arrangements and tolls for other types of vehicles will stay unchanged.

On the other hand, the government aims to implement time-varying tolls at the three tunnels within this year to suppress and divert the traffic flow during peak time slots and to encourage commuters to use the tunnels outside peak time slots.

During the peak hours from Monday to Saturday, the mechanism will charge private cars HK$60 for WHC and HK$40 for CHT and EHC.

The tolls during regular hours for all three tunnels will be HK$30 and HK$20 for off-peak hours.

There will be no peak time slots on Sundays and public holidays. The toll for private cars during regular hours for all three tunnels will be HK$25 and HK$20 for the rest of the time.

"In addition, a mechanism of 'transition period' will be introduced to avoid drivers in tunnels to catch the hours changeover period and accelerate or decelerate suddenly," said Leung Sai-ho, Assistant Commissioner of the Transport Department.

Between any of two time slots, tolls will gradually increase or decrease by HK$2 every two minutes, and will start at the same time across the three tunnels.

"The new arrangement will effectively narrow the gap among tolls of three tunnels and reduce the congestion," said Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung.

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