Hong Kong TramwayA?ai??i??ai???s, the wee trams (streetcars) that can!

The following is an updated version of the original January posting. The Hong Kong Tramway’s have reported an increase in ridership to about 280,000 passengers a day for 2008, showing that even little narrow gauge trams can carry large volumes of passengers for a fraction of the cost of a subway like RAV. So when the UBC SkyTrain lobby say “LRT can’t carry large volumes of ridership on Broadway“, just mention the Hong Kong Tramway!

Hong Kong TramwayA?ai??i??ai???s Ltd, which operate quaint narrow gauge double-deck tramcars on Hong KongA?ai??i??ai???s extremely busy streets give some insight on the ability of even the smallest trams (streetcars) to carry veryAi??Ai??high ridership. Hong Kong TramwayA?ai??i??ai???s Ltd. operates 163 double deck trams,Ai??Ai??running on 13 km (8 miles) long system, with a total track length of 30 km (18.6 miles), and it runs together with other vehicles on the street, carried an average of over 260,000 passenger a day in 2007!

So the next time a politician or a so-called transit planner claims that LRT/streetcar/trams do notAi??Ai??have the capacity or canA?ai??i??ai???t carry as much ridershipAi??Ai??as SkyTrain, just remind them of Hong KongA?ai??i??ai???s trams; the tramway that can!