Transportation Integration Development in Hengqin and Macao

Abstract

This chapter first analyses the accessibility of public transportation in Macao and Hengqin based on the plans in the draft ‘Macao Land Transport Master Plan (2021–2030)’. Secondly, the accessibility of schools, bus stops, and other public services in Macao and Hengqin is quantitatively assessed by applying the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to analyse the adequacy of public services in terms of population density in the transportation areas. Finally, the equity of accessibility in the two areas is compared using the Gini coefficient.

5.1 Public Transport Systems in Macao and Hengqin

As a means for assessing the accessibility of urban public transportation, accessibility plays a vital role in the layout of urban networks, urban land use and the construction of urban public transportation systems. An effective evaluation of the accessibility of urban public transportation services is important to optimise the allocation of urban public transportation resources and to meet the public transportation needs of residents better. In 2011, the Macao SAR Government announced the ‘Overall Land Transport Policy for Macao (2010–2020)’. Over the past decade, with the gradual promotion and implementation of various action plans and measures in the policy, Macao’s land transport environment has been improved evidently. Nonetheless, amidst rapid socioeconomic development, there are also issues and new challenges that require continuous follow-up. Currently, Macao is integrating into the national development situation and facing significant development opportunities, such as Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao GBA and Guangdong–Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. Against this background, the Macao SAR Government has launched the ‘Macao Land Transport Master Plan (2021–2030)’. In the plan, by 2030, the public transport share (proportion of light rail, bus and cab trips to total motorised trips for residents and tourists) will increase from 55 to 60%, and the green travel share (proportion of public transport and slow-moving transport to total trips) will reach as high as 75%. By accessing several high-speed railroads and intercity railroads and the introduction of the Macao Light Rail Line, Hengqin will form a ‘multi-network’ gateway transportation hub, with convenient interchange between various transportation modes, providing more convenient transportation services for the Hengqin Guangdong–Macao Deep Cooperation Zone and the future development of Macao.

5.2 Accessibility to Public Transport in Macao and Hengqin

Network analysis is a tool module for modelling the construction of geographic and urban infrastructure networks, mainly for resource optimisation and allocation network structure improvement. The method is based on road networks and simulates the way people travel in actual conditions under specific resistance. The primary network generally consists of centres, connections and nodes (Zhang et al., 2022). Following the master plan for the city of the Macao SAR (2020–2040), the land of Macao was rezoned into 18 planning areas, considering the population distribution, characteristics and functions of the current statistical areas, as shown in Fig. 5.1. This section analyses the accessibility of public services in Macao and Hengqin based on the coverage of light rail and bus stations in Macao and Hengqin in the spatial scale of residential blocks.

Fig. 5.1

Zone planning of Macao

As shown in Figs. 5.2 and 5.3, compared with the Macao light rail, the Hengqin light rail needs to further raise its service population and coverage areas. Macao light rail can serve 26% of the population and 21% of the land area within the service range of 500 m. If the service range is set as 1000 m, then the coverage area and population will reach over 50% (Table 5.1). If the service range of Hengqin light rail is set at 500 or 1000 m, then the coverage population remains unchanged at approximately 24%, and the coverage area increases from 0.7% to 2% (Table 5.2).

Fig. 5.2

500- and 1000-m service areas of planned light rail stations in Macao

Fig. 5.3

500- and 1000-m service areas of the Hengqin Intercity Railway

Table 5.1 Light rail stations coverage in Macao

Table 5.2 Light rail station coverage in Hengqin

There are only three stations of Hengqin rail transit at present, which have not formed a ring or network line, and it is difficult to take full advantage of the rail transit. In the future, with the increase in population and the improvement of the rail transit system, the light rail stations will have a positive guiding effect on the city’s development.

Table 5.3 shows the types of POI included in the 500- and 1000-m light rail stations in Macao and Hengqin. The number or types of industries covered by the light rail stations in Macao are larger than those in Hengqin. Within the 500-m light rail coverage of Macao, shopping and catering services are the most popular, followed by transportation facilities and life services. Within the 1000-m light rail coverage of Macao, the number of other types of industries increase significantly.

Table 5.3 Types of POIs included in the 500- and 1000-m light rail stations in Macao

The distribution of industries is relatively small in the 500- and 1000-m buffer zones of the Hengqin Intercity Railway. Within 500 m, only a small amount of accommodation services, business residences and transportation facilities are distributed to satisfy the residents’ needs. Nonetheless, other supporting facilities need further improvement. The construction of supporting facilities needs to be further strengthened (Table 5.4).

Table 5.4 Types of POI included in the 500- and 1000-m light rail stations in Hengqin

Figure 5.4 and Table 5.5 show the population and area covered by Macao bus stations convenient service. The 500-m buffer zone covers all construction land in Macao, covering 97.5% of trehe population. Compared with the distribution in Macao, bus stations are somewhat sparsely distributed in Hengqin. The population coverage rates of 300 and 500 m are not different evidently, which are 20.64 and 27.62% (Fig. 5.5 and Table 5.6). The coverage area is relatively small, accounting for 6.3 and 11.2% of the total area.

Fig. 5.4

Bus stations with 300- and 500-m service areas in Macao

Table 5.5 Bus station coverage in Macao

Fig. 5.5

Bus stations with 300- and 500-m service areas in Hengqin

Table 5.6 Bus station coverage in Hengqin

5.3 Accessibility to Public Services in Macao and Hengqin

Public facilities provide public service for the public, including education, medical and health, culture, transportation and other service facilities. Their reasonable layout is directly related to the fairness and efficiency of the allocation of government public service resources, the quantity and quality of public services enjoyed by the public and the goal of equalisation of basic public services.

The 2SFCA method is an essential method in the study of spatial accessibility of public service facilities. It has been widely used in the study of the layout of public service facilities at home and abroad. On the basis of the supply and demand locations, the two-step mobile search method compares the number of resources or facilities accessible to residents within the search radius (Xing et al., 2020).

Taking the accessibility of schools as an example, it is measured by considering the supply–demand relationship of accessibility within a certain range of schools at the supply point and residential areas at the demand point, as shown in Fig. 5.6. Calculate the supply ratio R_j for all facilities J:

$$ {{\varvec{R}}}_{{\varvec{j}}} = \frac{{{{\varvec{R}}}_{{\varvec{j}}} }}{{\sum_{{{\varvec{k}}} \in \left( {{{\varvec{d}}}_{{{\varvec{kj}}}} \le {{\varvec{d}}}_{{\varvec{j}}} } \right)} {\int {\left( {{{\varvec{d}}}_{{{\varvec{kj}}}} } \right){{\varvec{P}}}_{{\varvec{k}}} } } }}, $$

(5.1)

Fig. 5.6

2SFCA method

where S_j is the total supply of the facility; P_K is the number of search populations; and d_kj is the actual distance from each community to the service facility, obtained by calculating the O-D cost matrix in GIS. Calculate the demand point i as the centre, search for all supply points j within the radius, and then sum up the supply and demand ratio of each supply point to obtain the feasibility value:

$$ {{\varvec{A}}}_{{\varvec{j}}} = \sum_{{{\varvec{j}}} \in \left( {{{\varvec{d}}}_{{{\varvec{ij}}}} \le {{\varvec{d}}}_{{\varvec{i}}} } \right)} {\int {\left( {{{\varvec{d}}}_{{{\varvec{ij}}}} } \right){{\varvec{R}}}_{{\varvec{j}}} } } $$

(5.2)

where A_j is the reachability value; d_ij is the actual distance from each service facility to each district; di denotes the search radius centred on the demand point.

According to the 2SFCA method, the accessibility of Macao schools to residential areas was obtained (Fig. 5.7 and Table 5.7). Overall, the accessibility of schools in Macao is distributed in a face-to-face manner. The highest accessibility area is Patane e São Paulo. Notably, the accessibility of the ZAPE is also relatively high, probably due to the relatively low population density.

Fig. 5.7

Accessibility to schools in Macao

Table 5.7 Accessibility to schools in Macao

The accessibility of bus stations in Macao is characterised by ‘two sides and many points’ (Fig. 5.8 and Table 5.8). The ‘two sides’ are the ZAPE and the NAPE e Aterros da Baía da Praia Grande and Patane e São Paulo. The accessibility in these two areas is relatively high. The ‘multiple points’ are mainly in the Fai Chi Kei, Móng Há e Reservatório, Barra and Barca, distributed in a dotted pattern.

Fig. 5.8

Accessibility to bus stations in Macao

Table 5.8 Accessibility to bus stations in Macao

In addition to the education and public transport spots, the accessibility to other public service facilities in Macao is shown in the left figure, showing a trend of ‘high in the South and low in the North’, which is also associated with the population density distribution in Macao (Fig. 5.9 and Table 5.9). Areas with low population density usually have better accessibility and relatively sufficient resources per capita.

Fig. 5.9

Accessibility to other public service facilities in Macao

Table 5.9 Accessibility to other public service facilities in Macao

The accessibility to schools, public transport and other public services in the main research area of Hengqin is also analysed in GIS. The accessibility to school in Hengqin is generally low. The areas with the highest accessibility are K3 South Litchi Bay District and Huafa Capital (Fig. 5.10 and Table 5.10). Hengqin senior high school is currently under construction. Therefore, this study does not include senior high school and UM.

Fig. 5.10

Accessibility to schools in Hengqin

Table 5.10 Accessibility to school by residential area in Hengqin

The accessibility to bus stations in Hengqin is distributed in a ‘single point’ near Yinxin Garden and the border port (Fig. 5.11 and Table 5.11). The accessibility to other public services in Hengqin is similar to the distribution of schools, with better accessibility around several major residential areas. However, compared with Macao, accessibility still needs to be improved substantially (Fig. 5.12 and Table 5.12).

Fig. 5.11

Accessibility to bus stations in Hengqin

Table 5.11 Accessibility to bus stations in Hengqin

Fig. 5.12

Accessibility to other public service facilities in Hengqin

Table 5.12 Accessibility to other public service facilities in Hengqin

5.4 Spatial Inequity of Public Service Facilities in Macao and Hengqin

The Gini coefficient was used initially to reveal the spatial inequality. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 (indicating perfect equity) to 1 (indicating perfect inequality). This study applies the Gini coefficient to measure the service capacity of each facility in Macao and Hengqin, which reflects the disparity in accessibility distribution. It thus provides a useful guide for decision making (Eq. 5.3) (Cheng et al., 2020).

$$ G = \frac{1}{{2N^2 \overline{A}}}\sum_{m = 1}^N {\sum_{n = 1}^N {\left| {A_m - A_n } \right|} } , $$

(5.3)

where G is the regional Gini coefficient, A_m and A_n correspond to the accessibility level of m and n zones; Ā is the average accessibility level of all zones in zone i; n is the total number of zones.

It is evident from Fig. 5.13 and Table 5.13 that the accessibility Gini coefficient in Macao is higher than that in Hengqin, indicating that the spatial variation of accessibility in Macao is more extensive and less equitable. The Areia Preta e Iao Hon in Macao, the population density is the highest, and the demand is higher. Therefore, despite a large number of POI points, the accessibility is still low. Similarly, Hengqin is currently sparsely populated. Thus, the limited supply points can provide relatively good accessibility. In addition, Hengqin is still in the construction and development stage, and the settlement selected for this study is the built communities, which may be one of the reasons for the lower accessibility.

Fig. 5.13

Gini coefficients of accessibility in Macao and Hengqin

Table 5.13 Spatial concentrations of Macao and Hengqin

This chapter analyses the accessibility of public transport and public service facilities in Macao and Hengqin. The conclusion is that Macao’s public transport system covers over half population and area percentage, whilst Hengqin’s public transport radiation capacity is limited. It is suggested to strengthen the traffic connections, the coordination with new communities and the balance between work and living in the time dimension to better serve the daily life of residents.