As I commuted to work this morning, I found myself wondering whether driving would be a good option. My new workplace is located in Tung Chung, and I commute by taking the bus and MTR.
I used my iPhone to access Google Maps, tapped on the destination, and checked which route was better. To my surprise, one of the routes showed a traffic alert!
This feature is exclusive to Apple Maps and is available only in select cities, including New York City. I had never thought it would be available in Hong Kong.
I switched over to check the route from Tung Chung to Hong Kong Island. It seemed that the traffic alert was specific to eastbound traffic only.
Next, I checked the westbound traffic by switching back to the original route from Hong Kong Island to Tung Chung. Sure enough, it showed normal traffic conditions.
After searching online, I couldn’t find any relevant information on the traffic alert. It wasn’t until 10 minutes later, when I got back to the office, that I found a related report.
I’m confident that the traffic incident reports are updated in real-time! Hooray!
According to the Hong Kong government’s website (http://www.gov.hk/en/theme/psi/datasets/specialtrafficnews.htm), the source of these traffic incident reports may come from the government itself.