70 eToll complaints a day but hint of a slowdown

Stacy Shi

Hong Kong's electronic toll system HKeToll receives an average of 70 complaints a day, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung told the Legislative Council yesterday.

He said the complaint rate had dropped to 0.016 percent from 0.023 percent last month.

The government gradually launched HKeToll in May in Tsing Sha Control Area and five government tunnels enabling motorists to pay tolls remotely without having to stop or queue up to pay at toll booths.

Lam said over 810,000 vehicle tags were issued as of November 14, accounting for more than 99 percent of all licensed vehicles in Hong Kong.

The complaints relating to HKeToll mainly involved private cars that did not have vehicle tags affixed, and the automatic license plate recognition system could not identify the vehicle registration marks, Lam said.

"In this case, manual image review would be carried out by the toll service provider, and human errors occasionally occur during the process."

Lam said the Transport Department would actively follow up with the toll service provider upon receiving complaints, and the service provider has also developed dedicated programs to enhance the system's capability to recognize vehicle registration marks.

Regarding reports of scam messages related to HKeToll, Lam said the system would not send motorists any SMS or email with hyperlinks, nor direct them to conduct transactions.

He said that the average queue length at Kwun Tong Bypass during morning peak on weekdays has been shortened by about 700 meters after the implementation of HKeToll as motorists traveling to Hong Kong Island via Eastern Harbor Crossing need not switch lanes.

Meanwhile, Lam said the use of HKeToll may be expanded to government car parks to let drivers pay the bill remotely.

Lam said the government's plan was to first implement HKeToll at all government-tolled tunnels and Tsing Sha Control Area before extending the service to other road-traffic related purposes when relevant technology becomes more prevalent.

"For private car parks, it is believed that individual operators would have their own commercial and operational considerations as to whether or not to install the systems."

The department will continue to monitor traffics in the tunnels, improve the system and conduct regular and rigorous tests to tie in with the system's implementation at Tate's Cairn Tunnel on Sunday and at the Aberdeen Tunnel this year.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com