More than 800 cameras dotted around the city’s roads and tunnels relay footage to the Transport Department’s Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre in Wan Chai, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is the frontline when it comes to dealing with Hong Kong’s transport situation.
Keke Leung has been working at the co-ordination centre for about five years. He explained that when incidents come through to them, they liaise with the Police, other government departments and tunnel and public transport operators to find a way to implement contingency measures.
Traffic preparedness
Each year, the centre handles around 5,200 planned and unplanned traffic and public transport-related incidents. To cope with the city’s different traffic situations a three-tier operational mode is used, with the highest being the Joint Steering Mode.
Big events such as the Beijing Olympics Torch Relay in 2008 and the World Trade Organisation meetings in 2005 are examples of when the highest operational level was enforced.
Mr Leung said he was lucky enough to have worked on both mega events. He recalled that during the 2008 torch relay up to 60 officers were on duty closely monitoring traffic along the relay route, while simultaneously providing up-to-the-minute information throughout the day. It was one of his proudest moments as everything went off without a hitch.
“When the last torch bearer reached the final stop, Golden Bauhinia Square, we all applauded to celebrate,” he said.
Transport test
The Occupy Central protests have presented another challenge for the transport co-ordinators. Twenty officers have been working on re-routing traffic since it began. Stella Lee is one of them and she has been instrumental in diverting buses across the city.
She said a major part of her job is to co-ordinate with the Police and public transport operators to devise and implement contingency plans within a very short time to cope with the city’s ever-changing traffic situation.
It is a thankless task, but for staff at the co-ordination centre, their job satisfaction comes from knowing they have helped millions of Hong Kongers get around town in the most efficient way possible.
“When you see on the CCTV cameras that the traffic queues begin to dissipate and congestion begins to ease, at that moment you feel proud,” Mr Leung said.
Ms Lee was grateful for her team’s professionalism. “We have faced a lot of challenges and also big difficulties but I am happy that I can work with a team of professional colleagues. We always can work together to find a practical solution to overcome the difficulties.”
