Mike Rowse

Opinion | Hong Kong commuters, be thankful you’re not in London or San Francisco

Could we send a brigade of transport planners, engineers and experts from Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation to help organise and run their systems?

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Commuters outside a closed underground station in London on November 10, 2022, after Tube workers went on strike over pay and pensions. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mike Rowse

Published: 8:30pm, 1 Dec 2024

One of the great pleasures of travelling to different places is that it provides an opportunity to compare with the situation in one’s city and country. There is an extra dimension to the pleasure when revisiting after an absence of some years, to better evaluate the effect of the changes in the interim.

Over the past two weeks, I have had occasion to journey once again to both London and San Francisco. I found the differences in both places intriguing.

Upon arrival in the British capital, my passage through immigration was smooth, which was a pleasant surprise after my previous visits, as indeed was the ease and speed of retrieving checked luggage. I had booked a hotel in Paddington and intended to travel there either by the Heathrow Express rail link, which I had used previously, or the relatively new Elizabeth line, about which I had heard so much.

Luggage trolley at the ready I went to the Express entrance only to find it was not open and nobody knew when it would be in operation. Apparently, overnight engineering works had not been completed on time. How about the fallback option of the Elizabeth line? Same problem.

Luckily, the established Tube system was still operating normally so off to the Piccadilly line station it was, albeit requiring quite a long march through various tunnels. Alas, on arrival, the visitor centre and ticket office were closed and the ticket machines were having an off day.

A kindly staff member assured me all was not lost as one could use a credit card at the turnstiles. So after a rather awkward change at Earls Court (no luggage trolleys are allowed on the underground), the hotel was reached. Phew!