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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for the Environment, Dr Kitty Poon, at the Legislative Council meeting today (June 9):
Question:
Regarding emissions from franchised buses, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the respective numbers of pre-Euro, Euro I, Euro II, Euro III and Euro IV buses deployed daily on average by each franchised bus company to ply the bus routes passing busy areas (including Hennessy Road, Queensway, Causeway Bay and Yau Tsim Mong District, etc.);
(b) of the current number of buses which are 12 years old or above in the fleets of the various franchised bus companies, with a breakdown by age (one year per group);
(c) whether it had, in the past three years, computed the quantities of various types of air pollutants emitted by franchised buses meeting different emission standards; if it had, of the outcome of computation; and
(d) given that the Government has indicated that it will study the feasibility of designating low emission zones, and when it considers restricting the entry of franchised buses with higher emissions into these zones, it will also study the impact of such restriction on the overall road transport, public transport services, passengers as well as areas outside the restricted zones, of the current progress of various items of the study, as well as its details and the completion timetable?
Reply:
Mr. President,
(a) As at end-February 2010, the various franchised bus companies deployed a daily total of about 2,360 franchised buses to run on busy corridors including Yee Wo Street, Hennessy Road, Queensway, Des Voeux Road Central and Nathan Road. Of these buses, about 58%, 25% and 17% were operated by Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited, Citybus Limited [Note] and New World First Bus Services Limited respectively. All the franchised buses running on Yee Wo Street, 93% on Hennessy Road, 93% on Nathan Road, 84% on Queensway, and 89% on Des Voeux Road Central were of Euro II or above emission standards. Long Win Bus Company Limited and New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited do not operate any bus route along the above busy corridors.
[Note]: This refers to the two franchises held by Citybus Limited, one for providing bus services for Hong Kong Island and cross-harbour routes, while the other for providing bus services for North Lantau and Chek Lap Kok Airport routes.
(b) All franchised bus companies are required to operate their franchised bus services with buses under the age of 18, and have been replacing their serving buses accordingly. As at end-February 2010, there were a total of about 5,800 buses from the various franchised bus companies in operation. Among them, about 2,300 or 40% were between 12 and 17 years old. The number of buses aged 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 years were 770, 390, 400, 350, 250 and 140 respectively.
(c) The vehicle emission inventory for 2009 is still being compiled. The table attached shows a breakdown of the estimated quantities of major air pollutants, including respirable suspended particulates (RSP), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), emitted from franchised buses of different emission standards in 2007 and 2008.
(d) We are studying the feasibility of setting up pilot low emission zones (LEZs) targeting at franchised buses, which account for a relatively high proportion of vehicular flow along busy corridors in Causeway Bay, Central and Mong Kok. For instance, franchised buses could account for up to 40% of the vehicular flow along Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay. As such, pilot studies on franchised buses can effectively test whether LEZs can significantly improve roadside air quality. The implementation of the pilot LEZs may be delayed if the pilot scheme covers all vehicles at the same time, as we will need to resolve complicated legal and traffic management issues, and consult the transport trades.
While our study is to consider operating the LEZs on franchised buses as a pilot, the crucial factor lies in whether franchised bus companies can provide and deploy sufficient environment-friendly buses to run in the pilot LEZs. We are discussing with franchised bus companies about possible options to speed up the availability of more environment-friendly buses for the pilot LEZs through, for example, looking into the feasibility of retrofitting Euro II and Euro III buses with selective catalytic reduction devices to reduce NOx emissions. This will facilitate the formulation of practicable proposals on setting up LEZs and the assessment of its impact on the overall road transport, public transport services, passengers as well as areas outside the restricted zones. Our target is to start conducting the trial on the feasibility of retrofitting of selective catalytic reduction devices on Euro II and Euro III buses within 2010. Moreover, we have been working with the Legislative Council, District Councils and others concerned on bus route rationalisation. Subject to the agreement from different parties, bus route rationalisation will also help reduce the roadside air pollution at busy corridors materially.
Ends/Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Issued at HKT 11:34
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