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Following is a question by the Dr Hon David Li Kwok-po and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Yau Shing-mu, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 26):
Question:
The Transport Department (TD) has all along encouraged public transport operators to form passenger liaison groups (PLGs) to gauge passengers' views on the quality and development of their services. Furthermore, a provision was added to the franchise granted to the "Star" Ferry Company Limited in December 2007 under the heading "Passengers Liaison Groups" requiring that "The Grantee shall at its own expense and to the satisfaction of the Commissioner make appropriate arrangements to liaise, communicate with and receive the opinions of the public for the purpose of assessing and improving standards relating to the performance of the Ferry Service". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it knows the names of the PLGs presently in existence;
(b) public transport operators are required to regularly submit to the Government updated membership lists of PLGs;
(c) it had, in the past five years, issued detailed guidelines to the relevant public transport operators advising them on how to comply with the requirement of making arrangements "to the satisfaction of the Commissioner"; if so, of the nature of the guidelines; if not, how it determines whether the requirement has been complied with;
(d) TD sends its staff to attend or by other means to monitor the conduct of PLG meetings and meets with those PLG members who are not representatives of the public transport operators concerned, so as to ensure that PLGs are serving their intended purpose; and
(e) the Government or the Transport Advisory Committee had, in the past 10 years, evaluated the PLG scheme to determine ways to improve the scheme; if so, of the recommendations made in the evaluation reports concerned; if not, whether such reviews will be conducted?
ReplyˇG
President,
The reply to the above question is set out below.
(a) Currently, such bodies established by public transport operators are usually named as "Passenger Liaison Groups" (PLGs). For example, the name of the PLG set up by the Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) is "KMB Passenger Liaison Group".
(b), (c) and (d) At present, all franchised bus and franchised ferry operators have established PLGs in accordance with the relevant provisions in their franchises, so as to have a better understanding of passengers' views on their public transport services through direct communication. The operators usually invite public participation in the PLGs via various channels, and they are not required to submit to the Government membership lists of PLGs. The Transport Department (TD) has sent representatives to attend PLG meetings, or requested the operators to provide information about PLG arrangements and the issues discussed. The operators would report to TD the views and suggestions collected from PLGs, as well as their follow-up actions.
As regards other public transport services, individual ferry and public light bus operators have also set up PLGs or similar mechanisms to collect passengers' views on their services.
As for railways, MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) is required to establish a set of Customer Service Pledges, and to develop appropriate arrangements for measuring customer satisfaction with its railway services and for handling passengers' complaints and suggestions. MTRCL achieves the above through various means, including biannual questionnaire surveys, regular "Coffee Evenings", in-train interviews with passengers by MTRCL staff, dedicated radio programme on railways services, customer service hotline and online suggestion form. MTRCL is required to furnish a report to the Commissioner for Transport (C for T) every year summarising the complaints and suggestions it has received during the report period in relation to its railway services, and any action it has taken. It also submits to the C for T an annual report on its service performance. In addition, MTRCL provides information on its performance quarterly via production of leaflets and updates on its website.
(e) The Government has been monitoring the work of the franchised public transport operators in respect of the PLGs, examining the reports submitted by the operators and providing suggestions for improvement. The franchised public transport operators' overall performance in complying with the franchise requirements, including those relating to PLGs, will be taken into account when we consider the renewal of their franchises. The Government will review the PLG mechanism from time to time and take follow-up action as appropriate.
Ends/Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:46
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