Car-free Central? Hong Kong campaigners want key road reserved for trams and pedestrians

Activists rally to convert a strip of road from Western Market to Pedder Street into a car-free zone

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Petitioners rally from Western Market in Sheung Wan to Pedder Street in Central to save the tram. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 2:30pm, 23 Aug 2015Updated: 5:37pm, 24 Aug 2015

Environmental and urban planning groups are joining hands to press the idea of kicking cars off a key road in Central to reserve it for pedestrians and trams.

The initiative, by green group the Clean Air Network and planning body Designing Hong Kong, serves as a riposte to a proposal by a retired town planner to rip up tram tacks in Central and Admiralty to provide more space for cars and buses.

They suggest making Des Voeux Road Central between Western Market in Sheung Wan and Pedder Street a car-free zone.

About 10 members of the two groups yesterday promoted the idea by tying two parallel green ribbons around their palms to symbolise the tram tracks and their determination to preserve the historic transport system. They marched along Dex Voeux Road Central, chanting: "Walk by the tram and make Central a pedestrian zone!"

Kwong Sum-yin, head of the Clean Air Network, dismissed concerns that the proposal would worsen congestion in the business hub, arguing that Connaught Road Central and Queen's Road Central had spare capacity. She also pointed to the bypass that is due to open in 2017.

"The proposal can reduce air pollution, and the Central-Wan Chai bypass and new rail lines could divert the traffic too," Kwong said, adding that a number of overseas cities had made their city centres car-free zones.