The Transport Department today said overall cross-harbour traffic at the three road harbour crossings - the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC), the Cross-Harbour Tunnel (CHT) and the Eastern Harbour Crossing (EHC) - was generally smooth after the implementation of time-varying tolls at 5am yesterday.

On the first working day after the implementation of time-varying tolls, the overall cross-harbour vehicle flow from 7am to 11am remained at a similar level, with a two-way flow of about 64,000 vehicles, while cross-harbour traffic was generally smooth.

The WHC's traffic flow increased 8%, and that of the CHT and the EHC decreased 10% and 6%.

The preliminary results showed that the traffic conditions of the CHT and the EHC have improved, while that of the WHC was similar to before. The maximum traffic queues at the CHT and the EHC were reduced by more than 1km and 0.5km as compared to those before the implementation of time-varying tolls.

The department observed that before 7.30am, the overall cross-harbour traffic flow increased 6% as compared to before the implementation, while cross-harbour traffic during the morning peak hours of 7.30am to 10.15am, decreased 4%. This may be due to some motorists choosing to travel outside peak hours and cross the harbour at lower tolls.

The department said motorists need time to adapt time-varying tolls, and cross-harbour traffic conditions will fluctuate in the early stage and gradually stabilise over time.

Separately, there were some toll charging errors at the WHC this morning and the department immediately followed up with the toll service provider.

According to the toll service provider, the time-varying toll plan in operation for the WHC was found to be replaced by the obsolete “633” toll table due to human error, resulting in the incorrect handling of tolls at the tunnel between around 10am and 11am for about 4,700 vehicles.

The toll service provider reverted to the time-varying toll plan at 11.04am and the operation resumed normal.

The service provider refunded about 3,400 toll transactions. As for about 1,300 pending payment settlement, the updated payment notifications were issued according to the time-varying toll plan.

The department has demanded the toll service provider to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the incident and submit a report.