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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (March 8) :
Question:
Regarding re-routing of bus routes operating via cross harbour tunnels and its impact, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective percentages of bus routes currently operating via the Cross-Harbour Tunnel (CHT), Eastern Harbour Crossing (EHC) and the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) in the total number of bus routes operating via cross harbour tunnels, and whether the authorities have studied if the bus routes currently operating via CHT can be diverted to EHC or WHC, so as to relieve the traffic burden on CHT; if they have, of the study results; if they have not, whether they will conduct such a study in order to rationalise bus routes operating via the three cross harbour tunnels and hence achieve traffic diversion;
(b) as it has been reported that the Citybus Limited (CTB) and the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) have recently applied for diverting to CHT the overnight routes N962, N968, N969 and N11 currently operating via WHC, of the criteria the authorities adopted for determining whether or not these applications should be approved;
(c) given that passengers can no longer travel on those four bus routes at the WHC Toll Plaza after the re-routing of such bus services, how the authorities will address the transport needs of these passengers; and
(d) as the toll charged by CHT is far lower than that by WHC, whether the authorities, in considering the applications, will discuss with CTB and KMB a reduction in the fares of these four routes; if so, of the proposed rate of reduction; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
The number of cross harbour bus routes currently operating via the Cross-Harbour Tunnel (CHT), Eastern Harbour Crossing (EHC) and the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) is as follows:
No. of Percentage of these
Cross cross bus routes over the
harbour harbour total no. of cross
tunnels bus routes harbour bus routes
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CHT 32 41%
EHC 24 30%
WHC 23 29%
Total 79 100%
At present, many passengers board or alight at the en route bus stops of cross harbour bus routes operating via CHT. In particular, the bus stops at the CHT Toll Plaza provide interchange for numerous passengers using Kowloon-Canton Railway. In view of this, diverting the bus routes currently operating via CHT to EHC or WHC will affect a huge number of passengers. Nevertheless, the Administration will continue to review the bus network from time to time and make adjustment when necessary to cater for the development of public transport network and passenger demand, alleviate the impact of vehicles on the environment and enhance the operational efficiency of bus services.
As regards the re-routing of the four overnight bus routes in question, the Citybus Limited and the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited have proposed to the Transport Department ("TD") in their respective Route Development Programme that four overnight bus routes currently operating via WHC will be diverted to CHT and terminated at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal on Hong Kong Island starting from April 2006. These routes are:
* Citybus N962 (Causeway Bay (Moreton Terrace) - Tuen Mun)
* KMB N968 (Causeway Bay (Tin Hau) - Yuen Long)
* Citybus N969 (Causeway Bay (Moreton Terrace) - Tin Shui Wai Town Centre)
* Citybus N11 (Causeway Bay (Moreton Terrace) - Airport)
In considering the above re-routing proposals, TD has taken into account the following factors:
Impact on passengers
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The patronage of these four overnight routes is meagre. On average, there are around a dozen of passengers per trip, representing only 10% to 20% of the passenger capacity. According to the re-routing proposals of the bus companies, the route direction of the four routes on Hong Kong Island will change after the re-routing, but the journey time will remain basically unchanged. Since about 70% of existing passengers on these overnight routes travel between Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and the New Territories West (NTW), the re-routing will enable these passengers to save journey time. According to a survey conducted by TD, only about a total of 40 of the passengers travelling on these routes board or alight at the WHC Toll Plaza en route stops daily and the number of passengers is very low. After the re-routing of these four routes, these passengers can interchange with relevant bus routes at the CHT Toll Plaza, use other overnight buses in Kowloon to/from NTW, or use other public transport modes which provide overnight service. On the other hand, passengers travelling to/from NTW may choose to interchange with these four routes at the CHT Toll Plaza after their re-routing.
Impact on operational efficiency
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These four routes are operating at a loss due to low patronage, low revenue and increase in tunnel tolls. The re-routing proposals can reduce the deficit by cutting toll expenses, hence relieving the pressure for fare increase.
Impact on the traffic condition of CHT and its nearby roads
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Since the bus routes involved in the re-routing proposals operate at late night, the traffic condition of CHT and its nearby roads will not be affected after the re-routing.
After careful consideration of the above factors, TD initially supports the re-routing proposals put forward by the bus companies. As the proposals will affect the current users of the four routes, TD started consulting relevant District Councils on the proposals in February this year. It will carefully gauge their opinions before determining on the implementation of these proposals.
As for bus fares, since the bus companies will maintain the service level of these routes and the re-routing can only ease their deficit, they do not have any plan to reduce the bus fares for the time being.
Ends/Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:21
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