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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (April 24):
Question:
Recently, some green minibus (GMB) operators have relayed to me that under the impact of the ripple effect of the minimum wage, they have found it difficult to hire drivers. As a result, quite a number of GMB routes have lost trips or have even been forced to suspend services. They therefore urge the authorities to examine the relaxation of the eligibility requirements for applying for the relevant driving licence, so that more people can become GMB drivers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the situation of shortage of GMB drivers in the territory in the past three years, and the number of GMB routes which have lost trips or have been forced to suspend services due to a shortage of drivers; whether the authorities have examined the implementation of measures to increase the number of GMB drivers; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b) whether the authorities will, on the premise of not affecting road safety, examine the relaxation of the eligibility requirements for applying for the private/public light bus driving licence tests (e.g. lowering the existing requirement on the period for which the applicants have held a valid full driving licence for private car or light goods vehicle before they may take the relevant driving test, from "at least three years" to "at least one year"); if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) After the implementation of the statutory minimum wage, some representatives of the green minibus (GMB) trade relayed to the Transport Department (TD) the shortage of drivers for certain GMB routes. As such, the TD asked all GMB operators late last year about the matter and found that some GMB routes occasionally failed to operate fully in accordance with the frequency specified in the schedule of service because of manpower issues. Yet, according to the latest understanding of the TD, the operators concerned have reduced the impact of the driver shortage on GMB services by employing part-time and full-time drivers, redeploying existing manpower and adjusting drivers' salary, etc. So far, no GMB routes have suspended their services due to shortage of drivers.
Regarding the manpower of GMB drivers, the TD has contacted the Labour Department (LD) and liaised with GMB operators to participate in the LD's job fairs to recruit more drivers. The first job fair with the participation of GMB operators is expected to be held shortly. In addition, some GMB operators have adjusted the salary of drivers to retain the incumbent and attract new blood to join the GMB trade. The TD will monitor closely the manpower situation subsequent to the introduction of the above measures. If GMB operators apply for fare increase on the ground of increased operating cost (including salary cost), the TD will consider such applications on a case-by-case basis.
(b) As stipulated in Regulations 8(1) and (1A) of the Road Traffic (Driving Licences) Regulations (Laws of Hong Kong Chapter 374B), applicants for driving licences to drive taxis, light buses, medium/heavy goods vehicles or buses (commercial vehicles) must hold a valid full driving licence to drive a private car or light goods vehicle for at least three years, or a valid full driving licence issued after the completion of probationary driving period to drive a private car or light goods vehicle for at least two years immediately preceding their applications. To ensure that novice drivers of commercial vehicles have sufficient on-road driving experience for driving vehicles of a higher passenger capacity and larger size, and for the sake of road safety, we have no plan to relax the relevant requirements for the time being.
There are at present about 2 500 and 4 300 registered private light buses and public light buses respectively while the respective numbers of holders of valid driving licences for such vehicles are around 185 000 and 180 000. Based on these figures, the current numbers of respective valid driving licence holders should be sufficient to meet the manpower demand in the market.
Ends/Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:30
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