A controversial plan to split the city's tram line in two was roundly rejected by the Town Planning Board (TPB) on Friday.

The proposal by retired city planner Sit Kwok-keung to cleave the city's oldest mass transit line was heard and then voted down shortly after without further consideration - with board members flabbergasted at the planner not doing his homework.

Sit's proposal to rip out tram rails between Jubilee Street in Central and Arsenal Street in Admiralty lacked objective and scientific assessment, board member and architecture Professor Ho Puay-peng said. He questioned whether Sit's half-page plan was based more on impressions than on data.

The morning hearing to debate Sit's plan took on an adversarial tone, with TPB Chairman Ling Kar-kan repeatedly requesting Sit to explain his plan rather than rebut criticism and comments from other speakers.

Sit said the space opened by removing the key segment of the tram line would allow for more vehicular traffic in the Central business district. It would also allow for construction of more car parks.

The former government city planner noted trams occupied up to 40 percent of road areas where they operated but only 1.44 percent of all transport volume on Hong Kong Island.

With the completion of the MTR's West Island Line, it was high time Hong Kong stopped embracing old and flawed forms of transport, Sit said. He adding that it was a historical problem which needed to be solved.

Hong Kong Tramways Managing Director Emmanuel Vivant said Sit's figures were misleading, noting other vehicles shared tram lanes while trams complimented existing transport networks.

Senior town planner Jerry Austin said the MTR would not be able to absorb the tram's passengers, forcing them to take motor vehicles which would quickly fill up any extra capacity promised in Sit's plan.

Austin added the board was inundated with more than 22,300 public submissions about the proposal, 98 percent of which were in favor of retaining the 110-year-old network.

Opposition to Sit's proposal has been near universal, leading the government to reassure the public it had no plans to retire the iconic and environmentally friendly form of transport. It has also sparked online campaigns to save the trams and for the TPB to reject Sit's proposal.

Sit is no stranger to courting publicity for seemingly outlandish proposals. His bid to transform the People's Liberation Army's Admiralty headquarters into a hotel was rejected by the board in May.

tim@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 10/24/2015 page7)