*************************
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (October 17):
Question:
Some parents of school children have told me that the serious shortage of school bus services has led to soaring fares, thus increasing their burden. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) how the shortfall in school bus services could be alleviated, such as whether the licence fee for school buses will be waived to attract more operators to provide such services; and
(b) whether the imbalance of school bus services is under regular review and long-term planning has been made; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The current situation concerning the provision of school bus service is as follows:
There are three types of vehicles for the carriage of school children: (i) non-franchised public buses (public NFBs) with student service endorsement (a total of 3,384 in number); (ii) school private buses operated by schools or school sponsoring bodies direct (64 in number); and (iii) school private light buses (SPLBs) which are commonly known as "nanny vans" (1,448 in number). The total number of the three types of vehicles is around 4,900.
Operators or schools may in response to demand apply for increasing or adjusting the number of student service vehicles or of student service endorsement. All they need to do is to submit an application to the Transport Department (TD) for approval. Vehicles confirmed to be in compliance with the vehicle safety requirements can then provide service. In other words, the Government acts in concert with the supply and demand situation of the free market.
The number of vehicles that can provide student service is largely stable. In fact, the number of SPLBs has increased from 1,259 as at end-2011 to 1,448 in September this year. During the same period, school private buses have increased from 60 to 64.
For public NFBs, an operator must present a contract to prove that he/she has been engaged to provide school bus service so as to obtain the student service endorsement. In the past, the number of vehicles approved to provide student service would base on the number stated in the contract. To provide greater business convenience, TD has implemented since July 27 this year a new measure to allow an operator already in possession of the student service endorsement to use all vehicles in his/her fleet to carry school children after application. With this, an operator can flexibly deploy his/her fleet to meet service demand. Since the implementation of the new measure, over 170 vehicles have been granted the student service endorsement through it.
The above shows that the current regime has already provided sufficient flexibility to cope with market supply and demand and meet service needs. Nevertheless, to keep up with the times, TD will continue to keep in view changes in the number of various types of public NFBs, school private buses and SPLBs as well as their utilisation situation. TD will also continue to maintain close liaison with the trade through regular meetings.
As for the vehicle licence fee, the fee is set according to the vehicle class rather than the service that a vehicle provides. Indeed, the vehicle licence fee level has remained the same since 1991. In terms of vehicles that can be used to carry school children, the licence fee ranges from $900 to $5,300 per annum and that only accounts for an insignificant portion of the operating cost. TD has over the years maintained close contact with operators that provide student service, and is not aware of any situation under which the trade could not provide student service because of payment of licence fee. The Education Bureau points out that children from low-income families may in any case apply for the Student Travel Subsidy.
Ends/Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:01
NNNN
