Selection of mass transit railway stations

In the current study, eight MTR stations were chosen and classified into four categories: (i) high SES with school zone, (ii) low SES with school zone, (iii) high SES without school zone and (iv) low SES without school zone. Unlike other regions or cities where commuter train stations have a unidirectional passenger flow in peak hours⁽¹⁶⁾, MTR plays an important role in daily commuting and connections among different districts. Therefore, in the current study ‘school zone’ was defined based on the connectivity of peripheral primary and secondary schools and the density in that particular district. Setting a circular area with a radius of 500 m in GeoInfo Map provided by the Lands Department of Hong Kong, with reference to the list of schools provided by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong⁽¹⁷⁾, the number of schools (including kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary education institutes) was counted manually, and a school zone was defined as one with more than five schools (HKU, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon Bay and Tin Shui Wai), while a non-school zone was defined as one with fewer than five schools (Kwai Fong, Mong Kok, Ngau Tau Kok and Sheung Wan).

SES was primarily determined based on the median monthly household income of the population living adjacent to an MTR station. Based on the data of Census 2016, the median monthly household income of populations living around Kowloon Tong and HKU stations was $HK89 300 and $HK83 000, respectively⁽¹⁸⁾. Mong Kok and Sheung Wan, although with lower median monthly household incomes of $20 000 and $26 000, respectively, are special cases as they are traditional business districts with many commercial buildings and mega-shopping malls, both contributing substantially to the patronage of MTR stations⁽¹⁹⁾; both were classified under high SES in the current study. The other four stations selected had a median monthly household income under $HK50 000⁽¹⁸⁾ with minimal economic activities, and were classified under low SES. Table ​Table11 summarises the categorisation of these stations.

Socioeconomic status (SES) and school density classifications for the selected mass transit railway stations