Urban Rail Success Stories:
According to a United States Census Bureau estimate, Hong Kong may be the most
dense urban in the world, at approximately 75,000 per square mile. This high
density would theoretically support the highest level of urban rail, but given Hong
Kong's relatively small geographic expanse, buses provide approximately two thirds of
the public transport ridership. Daily Hong Kong rail ridership is more than three million.
It would appear that there may be significant prospects for economic and efficient
expansion of the Hong Kong rail system, which operates at a profit (covering
both capital and operating costs). More than 90 percent of the rail ridership is
either metro or commuter rail --- less than 10 percent is light rail. This is the only
urbanized area described that does not have a central business district with more than
750,000 employees. The Hong Kong central business district is estimated at
approximately 200,000 employees, with an employment density of nearly 500,000 per
square mile. However, given the comparatively small size of Hong Kong, overall
employment densities could exceed 100,000 per square mile, which is a number typical
of many central business districts. It might well be argued, as a result, that virtually all of
Hong Kong is a central business district (employment 2.5 million).
Source notes: Data from various sources, most notably Janes Urban Transport (multiple editions) and Jeffrey R. Kenworthy and Felix B. Laube, An International Sourcebook of
Automobile Dependence in Cities: 1960 to 1990.
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