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Following is a question by Hon Chan Hak-Kan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (May 20):
Question:
Earlier, the Administration released a consultant's preliminary findings of the Review of Hong Kong's Air Quality Objectives, and one of the emission reduction measures preliminarily proposed by the consultant was the early retirement of aged/heavily polluting buses by franchised bus companies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of buses in the fleet of each franchised bus company, broken down by the emission standards which they meet;
(b) of the respective numbers of Euro V and Euro IV buses which each franchised bus company plans to purchase in the next five years, and whether they will reduce the number of such buses to be purchased because of the recent economic downturn; if so, of the details;
(c) of the latest timetable according to which each franchised bus company plans for the retirement of all Euro II or older buses, and what follow-up measures the authorities have formulated to be taken when the companies fail to replace those buses as scheduled;
(d) whether it is currently discussing with the various franchised bus companies the consultantˇ¦s aforesaid recommendations, so as to commence the next stage consultation; if so, of the progress, and their respective responses;
(e) whether it will consider offering financial incentives to encourage various franchised bus companies to advance the retirement of aged buses; and
(f) whether it will consider making reference to current regulation on the power companies and including in the future franchise agreements to be signed with franchised bus companies clauses capping their emissions; if so, of the details, and whether it will assess the impact of such new clauses on bus fares?
Reply:
Mr. President,
(a) A breakdown of the franchised buses by emission standard in the current fleets of the franchised bus companies is at the Annex.
(b) Franchised bus companies are required to submit annually to the Transport Department (TD) their Forward Planning Programmes for the next 5 years, which include proposed programmes for purchasing new buses. Upon receipt of such proposals, TD will discuss with them to determine the number of buses to be purchased yearly, taking into account factors such as passenger demand as well as improvements to bus safety, the public transport network and the environmental performance of buses. As TD is discussing with the franchised bus companies their submitted programmes and adjustments may be made, the number of buses that will be purchased in the next five years by individual bus companies cannot be provided at this stage.
Currently, all the franchised bus companies have committed to operating their services with buses under the age of 18. Therefore, the bus companies have to plan for bus replacement before the retirement of old buses to ensure the provision of safe, reliable and efficient bus services. In determining the number of buses to be purchased yearly, the bus companies have to take into account the present and future economic situation, including factors such as changes in service demand.
(c) All franchised bus companies have honoured their commitment in replacing old buses before they reach the retirement age of 18. Based on the age distribution of the existing franchised buses, it is anticipated that all pre-Euro and Euro I buses will retire by 2012 and 2015 respectively, and all Euro II buses will retire by 2019.
(d) The Environmental Protection Department has exchanged views with the franchised bus companies on the consultantˇ¦s preliminary findings of the "Review of Hong Kong's Air Quality Objectives". On the proposal of early retirement of aged/more polluting diesel commercial vehicles (including franchised buses), the franchised bus companies expressed concern on the pressure on their financial positions and bus fares arising from advancing the replacement of old buses. In addition, they also expressed concern on the capability of bus manufacturers to substantially increase the bus supply for the early replacement of the aged/more polluting buses.
(e) After receipt of the consultant's study report for the "Review of Hong Kong's Air Quality Objectives", the Government will fully consult the public, including Members of the Legislative Council and the relevant stakeholders, and will take into consideration the views collected in the public consultation before deciding on how best to take forward the proposed air quality improvement measures, including the early retirement of aged/more polluting diesel commercial vehicles.
(f) Unlike electricity generation installations, the current vehicle emission monitoring technologies are not capable of monitoring the actual emissions from the daily operation of some 6,000 franchised buses. Hence, it is technically unfeasible to impose on franchised bus companies emission caps similar to those on power plants.
Ends/Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:29
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