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Following is a question by the Hon Choy So-yuk and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 22):
Question:
It has been reported that some reporters have found out that at various bus stops in different parts of the territory, one of every two buses departing from the bus stop emits black smoke. It has also been reported that to enable their buses to pass the annual inspection by the Transport Department, bus companies will replace the old mufflers with new ones, but the old mufflers will be used again after the buses have passed the inspection. The problem of black smoke emission, therefore, has not improved. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of Pre-Euro and Euro I buses currently owned by various franchised bus companies, the respective percentages of such buses among all the buses of these companies, and the respective percentages of suspended particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions from such buses among the total emissions from buses of these companies;
(b) of the number of complaints about the emission of black smoke from buses of the above-mentioned companies received in each of the past three years, the results of the follow-up actions taken by the authorities, the number of complaints which were substantiated and the penalty usually imposed;
(c) whether it has carried out investigations into the emission of black smoke from buses and the practice of bus companies replacing new mufflers with old ones after the buses have passed the inspections; if it has, of the investigation results; if not, the reasons for that;
(d) whether it will consider adopting measures such as prosecutions, fines and revocation of licence for effective control of emissions from buses; and
(e) whether it will consider prohibiting Pre-Euro buses from running on the roads; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) As at September 30, 2006, the respective numbers of pre-Euro and Euro I buses owned by the franchised bus companies serving Hong Kong and the respective percentages of such buses in their bus fleets are at Table I of Annex.
To reduce emissions from buses, all pre-Euro and Euro I franchised buses have been installed with diesel catalysts which can reduce the emission of particulate matters.
According to information of the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD"), the respective percentages of suspended particulates and nitrogen oxide emitted by pre-Euro and Euro I buses out of the total emissions of these companies in 2004 are set out in the Table II of Annex. EPD does not have more recent data.
As the bus companies have adjusted and replaced their bus fleets progressively over the past two years, both the total number of buses and the number of pre-Euro and Euro I buses have decreased. The number of pre-Euro and Euro I buses has decreased from 2,424 (40% of the bus fleets) in June 2004 to 2,050 (34% of the bus fleets) in September 2006. For example, KMB has replaced about 360 pre-Euro and Euro I buses in the past two years. As such, the existing percentages of suspended particulates and nitrogen oxide emitted by pre-Euro and Euro I buses out of the total emissions from the bus fleets should be lower than the percentages in 2004.
(b) According to the Road Traffic (Construction and Maintenance of Vehicles) Regulations (Cap 374A), the smoke emitted by a vehicle shall not exceed 60 Hartridge Smoke Units. The general public may not be able to assess visually whether the smoke emitted by a vehicle has exceeded the limit. Notwithstanding this, on receiving a complaint from the public about emission of black smoke from a vehicle, EPD will issue a letter to the vehicle owner (including the bus companies) asking him/her to check the black smoke emission of the vehicle, and encourage the owner to properly repair the vehicle immediately upon detection of any problem.
To monitor black smoke emission from vehicles, EPD has trained and conducted tests for smoky vehicle spotters who are able to assess whether individual vehicles are emitting excessive black smoke. Based on the reports made by the spotters, EPD will require the vehicle owners (including bus companies) to have the vehicle repaired within a specified period for undergoing a black smoke test conducted by EPD. Should a vehicle fail the test, the Commissioner for Transport may cancel its licence under the Road Traffic Ordinance ("RTO") (Cap 374). The records show that all the buses reported by the spotters in the past three years have passed the relevant test.
The respective numbers of complaints from the general public and reports from smoky vehicle spotters against emission of smoke by the bus companies' vehicles in the past three years are at Table III of Annex.
(c) The Transport Department (TD) deploys vehicle examiners to the depots of the franchised bus companies to carry out bus inspections and surprise checks on every working day. No bus companies have been found replacing vehicle components in order to pass the inspections in the past. In fact, mufflers installed on buses of older models are mainly for reduction in noise instead of exhaust emission. Should the bus companies replace the mufflers of those buses undergoing an inspection, not only will it result in additional manpower and cost, it will be unable to improve the buses' emission performance.
Apart from daily inspections, TD has followed up on the relevant reports with the bus companies. According to information of the bus companies, each of their buses has to undergo emission tests of the companies on a regular basis and every test result will be recorded in detail by emission detection devices. Should the test results indicate that the emission level of a bus exceeds the limit, the bus concerned has to be retained in the depot for repair. The bus will only be deployed to run on the roads after it has passed the emission test and met the Government's emission standard.
(d) EPD and TD have adopted the above effective measures to monitor the emission performance of buses, including cancellation of the licences of vehicles which fail the black smoke test under the RTO. In addition, if a bus company fails to comply with the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap 230) ("PBSO") or its franchise or any relevant direction, the Chief Executive in Council may impose a fine on the company. The Chief Executive in Council may also revoke a bus company's right to operate certain routes or the company's franchise as a whole under PBSO if it is of the opinion that the company has failed to maintain a proper and efficient bus service without good cause or has failed to pay the fine.
(e) Currently, there are various regulations that can monitor the replacement of bus fleet effectively. First of all, under PBSO, the bus companies have to submit to TD an annual forward planning programme for the following five years which contains a programme for the scrapping of buses that are unfit for use and for the purchase of new buses. The Government has added a new provision in all the new bus franchises to require the franchised bus companies to adopt the latest commercially available and proven environmental protection technology in setting specifications for acquiring new buses to minimise exhaust emissions as far as practicable. Moreover, the Air Pollution Control (Vehicle Design Standards) (Emission) (Amendment) Regulation 2006 enacted recently stipulates that from October 2006 onwards, all newly registered heavy duty vehicles (including franchised buses) have to comply with the Euro IV emission standards. All bus companies have to comply with this requirement.
As mentioned above, all pre-Euro and Euro I franchised buses have been installed with diesel catalysts to reduce particulate emission. We consider that an across the board prohibition on pre-Euro buses running on the roads before they have reached the end of service life is not an optimal use of resources. It is because the bus companies will have to purchase a large number of new buses right away in order to maintain their services. As each double-decker bus costs about $3 million, this will result in a substantial increase in the operation cost of the companies and in turn increase the pressure on bus fare. Having struck a balance between the interests of bus companies and passengers as well as the need to improve the environment, we are of the view that reduction of bus emissions should be achieved through the best practicable means including progressive replacement of the bus fleets by Euro IV buses or other mature emission reduction technology, coupled with other measures such as rationalisation of bus service and continuous installation of emission reduction devices on buses.
Ends/Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:02
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