Sunday 3 November 2024

DRAFT Submission

Submission to the Transport Department
RE:  Village Vehicles in Discovery Bay, Lantau

PURPOSE

To achieve quicker and easier permission for import of new (replacement) Village Vehicles to Discovery Bay.

BACKGROUND

Discovery Bay is a car-free community of 20,000 in the north-east corner of Lantau Island. 

It is reached by regular ferries from Central and by buses and taxis via a tunnel in the north-west. 

Only DB-registered vehicles are allowed on the roads in Discovery Bay. Outside commercial vehicles can enter DB via the tunnel, with a permission slip and for a limited time only. 

Other than local Buses and Hire cars operated by DBTSL, the only vehicles allowed are Golf Carts, registered as Village Vehicles (VV) under Regulation Cap 374

There are 517 (??TBC) licences for Golf Cart VVs in Discovery Bay. That is a fixed number and will not go up. Therefore this submission is not for new golf carts, but for the replacement of old golf carts, and for that replacement to be made easier. 

Golf Carts may only be purchased by owners of property in DB, at a cost set by the market. Sales are between individuals. Price have ranged up to $2.5 million. Therefore the value of the fleet of Golf Carts is currently over $1 Billion. 

The fleet is made up of mostly American-made EZ-Go golf carts and Japanese-made Yamaha carts (hereafter "Old Yamaha"). In recent years there have been some new-style Yamaha Carts ("New Yamaha") imported, each new one replacing an existing Cart that must be taken off the road. 

PROBLEM

Our fleet of Golf Carts is aging. 

It is now about 50 years old  (??TBC). 

Spare parts and replacement engines for the older models of EZ-Go and Old Yamahas are becoming difficult if not impossible to find anywhere in the world. 

Although there have been some VV replacements by New Yamahas, these have been coming in only slowly, as the manufacturer does not place a high priority on the supply to Discovery Bay. People awaiting replacement are having to wait at least six months (??TBC) and even longer in some cases.

The cost of the replacements has gone up from an already steep $95,000 (??TBC) to a staggering $350,000  (??TBC). This is more than the cost of a decent family sedan car to Hong Kong residents, clearly unfair for the owners of Golf Cart VV licenses in Discovery Bay.

Moreover, the New Yamaha supplier places no priority on supplying spare parts in the event of breakages. There are New Yamahas that have been sitting awaiting spare parts now, at the local repair garage for over six months (??TBC). Again, this is far worse than the situation of people who own ordinary cars in the rest of Hong Kong. 

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS (Excerpts)

(Cap. 374, section 12A)
4.
Application for and issue of permit
(1)
Subject to this regulation and to regulation 8 the Commissioner may issue a permit to the owner of a village vehicle authorizing the driving or use of the vehicle on roads.
(2)
An application for a permit shall be made by the owner of the vehicle to the Commissioner in the specified form.
(3)
An application for a permit shall include a certification by the owner of the vehicle that—
(a)
the overall length of the vehicle does not exceed 3.2 m;
(b)
the overall width of the vehicle does not exceed 1.2 m;
(c)
the vehicle is equipped with—
(i)
an adequate braking system capable of being applied when the vehicle is in motion for the purpose of stopping it, and of holding the vehicle immobile;
(ii)
a warning instrument capable of audibly signalling the approach and presence of the vehicle; and
(iii)
a silencer, expansion chamber or other device suitable and sufficient for reducing, as far as may be reasonable, the noise caused by the escape of exhaust gases from the engine;
(d)
the vehicle is so constructed as to render it safe to carry any load that it may reasonably be required to carry; and
(e)
in the case of a golf cart, it is so constructed as to render it safe to carry any passengers that it may reasonably be required to carry.
(Format changes—E.R. 2 of 2012)
(Cap. 374, sections 5 and 6)
23.
Licensing of motor vehicles for use in Lantau only
(1)
Subject to subregulation (1A), a motor vehicle may be used on a road in Lantau only, if the vehicle is licensed under this regulation.
(1A)
Where a motor vehicle is licensed under this regulation and regulation 26, subregulation (1) shall be construed as permitting the motor vehicle to be used on a road in Lantau or Chek Lap Kok.
(2)
Any person who wishes to have licensed for use only in Lantau a motor vehicle of which he is the registered owner may deliver to the Commissioner an application for such licence in a form specified by the Commissioner and shall pay to the Commissioner one quarter of the appropriate licence fee prescribed in Schedule 2:
Provided that regulation 21(9) shall apply to an applicant who is a disabled person for the purposes of that regulation and the licence fee payable under this subregulation shall be— 
(a)
for a licence for 12 months, one quarter of the licence fee payable under regulation 21(9)(b)(i); and
(b)
for a licence for 4 months, 35% of the licence fee payable under paragraph (a) plus an additional fee of $15.
(3)
The Commissioner may license a motor vehicle for use in Lantau only, and where he does so, he shall cause the vehicle licence to be endorsed with the words “PERMITTED TO BE USED ONLY ON LANTAU” and the characters “祇准在大嶼山使用” in such manner as he shall think fit and shall cause such endorsement to be made on the registration document relating to the vehicle if he thinks fit.
(4)
Subject to this regulation, regulation 21 shall apply in respect of the documents which are required to be submitted with an application for a licence and the licensing of motor vehicles for use in Lantau.
(5)
For the purposes of this regulation, 
road
 (
道路
) does not include a private road.
(6)
A licence issued under this regulation and having effect immediately before the commencement* of the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulation 1997  (the Amendment Regulation) shall be taken as a licence issued in accordance with the Regulation as amended by the Amendment Regulation.
Editorial Note:
* Commencement date: 22 May 1997.
23A.
Licensing of motor vehicles for use on private roads in Lantau only
(1)
A motor vehicle may be used on a private road in Lantau only, if the vehicle is licensed under regulation 23 or this regulation.
(2)
Any person who wishes to have licensed for use only on private roads in Lantau a motor vehicle of which he is the registered owner may deliver to the Commissioner an application for such licence in a form specified by the Commissioner and shall pay to the Commissioner one-tenth of the appropriate licence fee prescribed in Schedule 2:
Provided that regulation 21(9) shall apply to an applicant who is a disabled person for the purpose of that regulation and the licence fee payable under this subregulation shall be—
(a)
for a licence for 12 months, one-tenth of the licence fee payable under regulation 21(9)(b)(i); and
(b)
for a licence for 4 months, 35% of the licence fee payable under paragraph (a) plus an additional fee of $15.
(3)
The Commissioner may license a motor vehicle for use on private roads in Lantau only, and where he does so, he shall cause the vehicle licence to be endorsed with the words “PERMITTED TO BE USED ONLY ON PRIVATE ROADS ON LANTAU” and the characters “只准在大嶼山的私家路上行駛” in such manner as he shall think fit and shall cause such endorsement to be made on the registration document relating to the vehicle if he thinks fit.
(4)
Subject to this regulation, regulation 21 shall apply in respect of the documents which are required to be submitted with an application for a licence and the licensing of motor vehicles for use on private roads in Lantau.
(L.N. 21 of 1989)

It is clear from the above excerpts of relevant Regulations that the Transport Department has considerable scope to interpret the VV licensing requirements. 

Moreover it is clear from these Regulations that the requirements themselves are not onerous. At least on the fact of the Regulations. 

REQUEST

We request that the Transport Department use its discretion under the above regulations to facilitate the quicker entry of suitable VVs for Discovery Bay. 

Our suggestion is that VV or VV equivalents that are licensed to drive on private roads in China be allowed into Hong Kong. 

It is not clear to us why there ought to be stricter regulations for Hong Kong than on our motherland. 

An alternative suggestion is to allow into Hong Kong those vehicles that have been permitted on the roads of the EU or an American state like California, which famously have the most stringent vehicle regulations in the world. 

SUMMARY

Our fleet of golf carts is aging. Replacement of them is very difficult. We urge the Transport Department to adopt measures to make the purchase of VVs more in line with the purchase of motor vehicles in the rest of Hong Kong. 

With a VV fleet worth over $ 1 billion dollars, the owners of Golf Cart VVs in Discovery Bay are most assuredly not willing to have the fleet depreciate away to nothing. Who would be?

Dear TD: please help us!

CONTACTS

Peter Forsythe (email, etc...)

Jing Lee (email, etc...)

DBSML (email, etc...)

DBTSL (email, etc...)

Others (??TBC

==================

Wednesday 13 May 2020

Restoring the Mighty Mustang to pride of place

This is Gordie’s 1968 Mustang with Table Mountain in the background.
Cape Town September 2011 just before the start of our adventure
More info and photos here
I started this blog in 2011 to cover our trip in a Classic Car -- The Mighty Mustang, above -- with about a dozen other classic cars, starting from Cape Town and finishing in Cairo six weeks later. 

Then we did the Mille Miglia Italian rally in 2018. I thought I’d just put some of the photos of that even also on this blog. 

So:
If you want to see posts from ONLY from our 2011 road trip from Cape Town to Cairo click here.
Or just go back to the First Post. And some more nice photos.

If you want to see posts ONLY from the 2018 Mille Miglia click here.

Monday 4 June 2018

Mille Miglia 2018


Our 1951 Ermini.  More info on Ermini here.
This car took part in the original Speed version of MM, in 1952 and 1953
and so has automatic entry to today's time trial version of the MM
Posted on 10 May 2018:
Ok, so here we are. I can't find anywhere else to put photos and posts about our first outing at the Mille Miglia, to start next week in Brescia (16-19 May), so I'm going to put it here, as at the least this is a blog about a car trip.
And how about that?  It's seven years, no less, since we did our cross Africa trip.
Goodness me.
As Groucho said:
Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana

[PS: this is a "pinned post" meaning it will always be on top; until June 4]

LATER (22 May): Quick description of the Mille Miglia, below the fold.  (more on the MM website here).
LATERER (28 May): Well it seems that I've allowed this to morph into an Italian Road trip.  Oh well, so be it... As the Italians would say perche non?
EVEN LATERER STILL (6 June):  Back in Hong Kong and jet-lagged.  Explanation to why this is called "Cape to Cairo" is that I've just piggy-backed on this earlier blog I did in 2011 for our road trip across Africa.  And great trip that was too!  So, this time it's May/June 2018 starting with Gordie and my go at the Mille Miglia, which took place 16-19 May.  The first posts are 12 May 2018.
You can either click on the Label "Mille Miglia 2018" on the above right, which will filter all the MM posts, or just start at 12 May, which you can get to via the "Blog Archive".  Basically, it's all the posts in 2018.
Then I ended up adding photos of the road trip we did from Brescia/Milan down to Sicily and back to Milan, with John and Jing joining in that.
And, reminder, below the fold is a quick description of the Mille Miglia, and how it works.

Saturday 2 June 2018

Sirmione

And so we end as we began, with the Mille Miglia.
Sirmione, where we are now, has an ongoing festival to
the original 1947-57 MM, the real Heros, as they zoomed
around the 1,000 mile open roads at speeds up to 290kph

Lunch by the lake in Sermione, John tucked behind the flowers

There's simple beauty everywhere
in Sirmione, indeed in Italy...

... simple beauty, like this, Lago di Garda

And our current version of the Mille Miglia, a Regulated Time Trial
a bit like this, a kids' game compared with the Heroes.  Still, takes
some getting 61+ year old cars around Italy's rutted back roads...

Hotel Sirmione, our pub there.
Damiano takes us out on a sunset cruise
on a Bertoldi boat

John, me and Jing. In front of the Roman Villa at Sirmione.
It was 200 metres by 100 metres, 2,000 years ago...

Sunset on Lago di Garda

Mirror with Damiano and our crew

The Sermione castle, only one in the world (or Italy?) with its own
port inside the grounds

and so to bed...

Verona

Well, Herculaneum really, but who's counting?
One of the beautifully preserved mosaics in this
excavated city, found earlier but excavated later
and better preserved than Pompeii because it was
entombed in mud instead of ash
Jing Capulet.... at Juliet's house and famous balcony
Osteria Sottoriva, where we ate horse meat stew, a specialty of
Verona.  We discussed meat eating, agreeing that it's all
immoral, horse no more or less immoral than all the other we
eat.  We eat meat because we like it; not because we need it....
The Arena in Verona, being prepared for a performance of Aida.
Quite the best and most beautifully preserved Roman Arena in the
world and the longest continually used venue ever.

Tuesday 29 May 2018

Icarus revisited

John's great tone-dropout of the fallen Icarus at the Temple Concordia, Agrigento,  Sicily
No people!

Monday 28 May 2018

Fabulous Agrigento, Sicily

Temple Concordia from John's room, at Villa Athena, Agrigento, and....

... and, Villa Athena from the Temple Concordia

The Temple Concordia

Icarus lies where he landed after his ill-conceived attempt
at solar space travel

Temple of Giugnio
John, at temple in Agrigento

 Unlike Marsala, which was a bit of a damp squib, Agrigento surprised delightfully on the upside.  The largest UNESCO cultural heritage site in the world, with beautifully preserved temples.
And Villa Athena is the place to stay when here.  With fabulous views over the Valley of the Temples.  Here's a description from a book "New Luxury Hotels" by Nicola Lecca, which they provide in each room of the Villa:



Marsala, Sicily

Punch and Judy on the lawns of the Cantine, pretty much the only
thing worth seeing in Marsala.  

The "Cantine" in Marsala. 5 Euros gets you an endless tasting glass

Marsala Production and consumption process

Saturday 26 May 2018

Towards the boot... Calabria and Sicily

On the west coast of the tip of Italy, a little town called Tropea.
Worth a visit if you happen to be in the region.  This is the
little church called, not surprisingly, "The Little Church of the Island"

Some major buildings in the middle of Palermo are still decrepit.
Note no floors to the balconies....

The house of Judge Falcone, the Mafia hutnter was bombed to rubble, killing him.
This is what remains. Palermo, 26 May.

Ruins of the Mafia wars, left, and the regeneration on the right

Many places in Palermo still ruined by the Mafia wars

Teatro Massimo, Palermo, 26 May


Friday 25 May 2018

Pompeii is great!

I first went to Pompeii with sister Anne, mother and dad, must be in about 1955, shortly after they'd done the most recent excavations.  Then again, I guess sometime in the early seventies.
Now it's much bigger than I remember.  Much more excavated, and walking around is like walking around a Roman town.
We were thinking that it's so big now, they ought to take a small section of it, and rebuild it as it would have been just before the eruption. It wouldn't take much and would be fantastic.  But the Italians won't do it, I'm guessing, either because it's not allowed (likely) or because it's not la bella figura...
In any case, it's well worth a visit, a great day....
Some of Jing's photos:


Roman roads, just wide enough for two chariots 


The Large Theatre

Mosaics

The Forum

Apollo guards the city gates

Wednesday 23 May 2018

Florence, Pisa, Rome


From our apartment in Piazza San Spirito, Florence
20 May

Our Florentine Friend, Padg, on her local transport.  Elegant woman
in elegant town...



The classic, one has to take, but resisting
the pretend-holding-up, the leaning tower (torre pendent)





John and Jing, on the balcony of Relais Donna Lucrezia, Via Emilia, Rome
The place to stay in Rome, next to Villa Borghese.  21 May.

Two modern statues added to the Fontana di Trevi

The water's still clean and clear, despite the crowds.  

Wildflowers and Roman ruins, throughout Rome