Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:58:39.933Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Benefit-cost analysis of accelerated replacement of Hong Kong’s pre-Euro IV buses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2015

Weiwen Leung
Weiwen Leung*
Affiliation:
Singapore Management University – Economics, 90 Stamford Road Singapore, Singapore 178903, Singapore
*
Weiwen Leung, Singapore Management University – Economics, 90 Stamford Road Singapore, Singapore 178903, Singapore, Phone: +65 68280143, e-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Hong Kong’s franchised buses contribute significantly to its high pollution levels, which in turn result in excess mortality and hospitalizations. I show that replacing all of Hong Kong’s pre-Euro IV buses with cleaner Euro V buses would save 1260 statistical lives, among other benefits. The expected net benefit of such a project is HK$26.4 billion under a discount rate of 3.5%. This result is robust to a discount rate of 10% and a mortality decrease of half of what is expected. This is one of the first studies to estimate the public health impact of air pollution from franchised buses in Hong Kong. The city can therefore consider conducting accelerated replacement of its franchised bus fleet. Given the strongly positive result, other Asian cities with ageing bus fleets could also conduct similar benefit-cost analyses.

Keywords

busesHong Kongpollution
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , 01 December 2013 , pp. 335 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 2013

References

Behrentz, E., Fitz, D. R., Pankratz, D. V., Sabina, L. D., Colomec, S. D., Fruind, S. A., & Winera, A. M. (2004). Measuring self-pollution in school buses using a tracer gas technique. Atmospheric Environment, 38, 3735–3746.Google Scholar
Berkowicz, R. (1998). Street scale models. In Fenger, J., Hertel, O. & Palmgren, F. (Eds.), Urban Air Pollution – European Aspects (pp. 223–251). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Boardman, A. E., Greenberg, D. H., Vining, A. R., & Weimer, D. L. (2006). Cost-benefit analysis: concepts and practice. New Jersey: Pearson.Google Scholar
Brajer, V., Mead, R., & Xiao, F. (2006). Valuing the health impacts of air pollution in Hong Kong. Journal of Asian Economics, 17, 85–102.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. J., Collins, S., Elliott, P., Fischer, P., Kingham, S., Lebret, E., ... Van Der Veen, A. (1997). Mapping urban air pollution using GIS: a regression based approach. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 11(7), 699–718.Google Scholar
Dales, R., Liu, L., Szyszkowicz, M., Dalipaj, M., Willey, J., Kulka, R., & Ruddy, T. D. (2007). Particulate air pollution and vascular reactivity: the bus stop study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 81(2), 159–164.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Department. (2011a). Annex II: Breakdown of franchised buses according to pollution emissions standards. Hong Kong: Environmental Protection Department.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Department. (2011b). Air quality in Hong Kong 2010. Hong Kong: Government of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Department. (2011c). Written reply to legislative council question. Legislative council. Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Department. (2012a). Air quality data (Hourly). Retrieved April, 2012, from Environmental Protection Department http://epic.epd.gov.hk/ca/uid/airdata/p/1.Google Scholar
Environmental Protection Department. (February, 2012b). Summary of number of applications and products approved (Pilot Green Transport Fund). Retrieved March, 2012, from Environmental Protection Department http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/files/No_of_App_and_Prod_Approved_20120210.pdf.Google Scholar
Erlandsson, L., Almen, J., & Hakan, J. (2008). Measurement of emissions from heavy duty vehicles meeting euro IV/V emission levels by using on-board measurement in real life Operation. Graz: 16th International Symposium ‘Transport and Air Pollution’.Google Scholar
Fu, M., Ge, Y., Wang, X., Tan, J., Yu, Linxiao, & Liang, B. (2013). NOx emissions from Euro IV busses with SCR systems associated with urban, suburban and freeway driving patterns. Science of the Total Environment, 452–453, 222–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedley, A. J. (2012). Hedley index. Hong Kong: Hong Kong School of Public Health.Google ScholarPubMed
HEI Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia Program. (2010). Public health and air pollution in Asia (PAPA): coordinated studies of short-term exposure to air pollution and daily mortality in four cities. HEI Research Report 154. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute.Google Scholar
Hertel, O., Hvidberg, M., Ketzel, M., Storm, L., & Stausgaard, L. (2008). A proper choice of route significantly reduces air pollution exposure – A study on bicycle and bus trips in urban streets. Science of the Total Environment, 389(1), 58–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoek, G., Brunekreef, B., Goldbohm, S., Fischer, P., & van den Brandt, P. A. (2002). Association between mortality and indicators of traffic-related air pollution in the Netherlands: a cohort study. Lancet, 360, 1203–1209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hong Kong Government. (2011). Hong Kong budget 2012–2013. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government.Google Scholar
Hospital Authority. (2011). Hospital authority statistical report. Hong Kong: Hospital Authority.Google Scholar
Kan, H., & Chen, B. (2003). A case-crossover analysis of air pollution and daily mortality in Shanghai. Journal of Occupational Health, 45, 119–124.Google Scholar
Kaplan, G. G., Dixon, E., Panaccione, R., Fong, A., Chen, L., Szyszkowicz, M., ... Villeneuve, P. J. (2009). Effect of ambient air pollution on the incidence of appendicitis. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 181(9), 591–597.Google Scholar
Karlstrom, M. (2005). Local environmental benefits of fuel cell buses – a case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 13, 679–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katsouyanni, K., Schwartz, J., Spix, C., Touloumi, G., Zmirou, D., Zanobetti, A., ... Anderson, H. R., (1996). Short term effects of air pollution on health: A European approach using epidemiologic time series data: the APHEA protocol. Journal of Epidemiology Community Health, 50, S12–S18.Google Scholar
Katsouyanni, K., Touloumi, G., Samoli, E., Gryparis, A., Tertre, A. L., Monopolis, Y., ... Schwartz, J. (2001). Confounding and effect modification in the short-term effects of ambient particles on total mortality. Results from 29 European cities within the APHEA2 Project. Epidemology, 12(5), 521–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lenaers, G. (1996). On-board real life emission measurements on a 3 way catalyst gasoline car in motor way-, rural- and city traffic and on two Euro-1 diesel city buses. The Science of the Total Environment, 139–147.Google Scholar
López, J. M., Jiménez, F., Aparicio, F., & Flores, N. (2009). On-road emissions from urban buses with SCR + Urea and EGR + DPF systems using diesel and biodiesel. Transportation Research Part D, 14, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, J., & Behrentz, E. (2005). Vehicle self-pollution intake fraction: Children’s exposure to school bus emissions. Environmental Science & Technology, 39(8), 2559–2663.Google Scholar
Miller, T. R. (2000). Variations between countries in values of statistical life. Journal of Transport Economics & Policy, 169–188.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. S., Veves, A., Zanobetti, A., Sarnat, J. A., Gold, D. R., Economides, P. A., ... Schwartz, J. (2005). Diabetes enhances vulnerability to particulate air pollution – associated impairment in vascular reactivity and endothelial function. Circulation, 111, 2913–2920.Google Scholar
Rabl, A. (2002). Environmental benefits of natural gas for buses. Transportation Research Part D, 7, 391–405.Google Scholar
Ruggeri, G. (1999). The marginal cost of public funds in closed and small open economies. Fiscal Studies, 20(1), 41–60.Google Scholar
Siebert, W. S., & Wei, X. (1998). Wage compensation for job risks: The case of Hong Kong. Asian Economic Journal, 12(2), 171–181.Google Scholar
Stieb, D., Judek, S., & Burnett, R. (2002). Meta-analysis of time-series studies of air pollution and mortality: Effects of gases and particles and the influence of cause of death, age, and season. Air & Waste Management Association, 52(4), 470–484.Google Scholar
Tian, L., Hossain, S. R., Lin, H., Ho, K. F., Lee, S. C., & Yu, I. T. S. (2011). Increasing trend of primary NO2 exhaust emission fraction in Hong Kong. Environment and Geochemical Health, 33, 623–630.Google Scholar
Transport Department. (2011). The annual traffic census for 2010. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government.Google Scholar
Transport Department. (2012a). Transport in Hong Kong. Retrieved March, 2012 from the Transport Department http://www.td.gov.hk/en/transport_in_hong_kong/public_transport/buses/index.html.Google Scholar
Transport Department. (2012b). Annual transport digest. Retrieved May, 2013 from the Transport Department http://www.td.gov.hk/mini_site/atd/2012/eng/section5/section5_18.html.Google Scholar
Wang, A., Ge, Y., Tan, J., Fu, M. Shah, A. N., Ding, Y., ... Liang, B. (2011). On-road pollutant emission and fuel consumption characteristics of buses in Beijing. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 23(3), 419–426.Google Scholar
Wong, T. W., Lau, T. S., Yu, T. S., Neller, A., Wong, S. L., Tam, W., & Pang, S. W. (1999). Air pollution and hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Hong Kong. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 56, 679–683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong, T., Tam, W. S., Yu, T. S., & Wong, A. H. (2002a). Associations between daily mortalities from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and air pollution in Hong Kong, China. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 30–35.Google Scholar
Wong, C-M., McGhee, S. M., Yeung, R. Y. T., Thach, T. Q., Wong, T. W., & Hedley, A. J. (2002b). Final report for the provision of service for study of short-term health impact and costs due to road traffic-related air pollution. Report submitted to Environmental Protection Department on behalf of Hong Kong Air Pollution and Health Joint Research Group of University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Health Services Research Group, and Biostatistics and Computing Research Group of the Department of Community Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. Retrieved March, 2012 from http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/studyrpts/files/ap_health_impact_02.pdf.Google Scholar
Wong, C-M., Atkinson, R. W., Anderson, H. R., Hedley, A. J., Ma, S., Chau, P. Y. K., & Lam, T. H. (2002c). A tale of two cities: effects of air pollution on hospital admissions in Hong Kong and London compared. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110, 1.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. (2006). Air quality guidelines: Global update 2005. Retrieved May 16, 2013, from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/78638/E90038.pdf.Google Scholar
Yao, X., Lau, N. T., Chan, C. K., & Fang, M. (2005). The use of tunnel concentration profile data to determine the ratio of NO2/NOx directly emitted from vehicles. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 5, 12723–12740.Google Scholar
Yassin, M., Kellnerova, R., & Janour, Z. (2009). Numerical simulation on pollutant dispersion from vehicle exhaust in street configurations. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 156(1–4), 257–273.Google Scholar
Yee, L. W. (1998). Study of economic aspects of ambient air pollution on health effects. Consultancy Report prepared for Hong Kong Environmental Department. Retrieved March, 2012 from http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/studyrpts/effect_econ_amb_ap.html.Google Scholar