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Following is a question by the Hon Ma Fung-kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (October 9):
Question:
Recently, a number of District Council members have relayed to me that they received many cases in which parents sought assistance regarding school bus service. Those parents pointed out that school bus service for the current school year is acutely inadequate, but school bus fares had surged. Due to the reduced number of vehicles providing school bus service, school bus routes had to be lengthened in order to pick up students living in various areas and as a result the students had to leave home earlier. As some schools were unable to arrange for school bus service, the parents concerned had to escort their children to and from schools, and some students were even forced to change schools. However, currently about 3,500 non-franchised public buses (NFBs) were issued with the student service (A03) endorsement, and there was no significant reduction in the number of such vehicles in the past few years. Moreover, the number of school private light buses (nanny vans) has increased from last year's about 1,500 to the current 1,700. Some members of the public have pointed out that the shortage of school buses is mainly attributable to the fact that many public NFBs with student service endorsement have not been used to provide student service. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of NFBs and nanny vans providing student service in each of the past five years;
(b) of the number of NFBs with both student service endorsement and other service endorsements in each of the past five years; what the other service endorsements are, together with a breakdown of the numbers of NFBs by such other service endorsements;
(c) of the number of NFBs providing student service on a regular basis in each of the past five years; if it is unable to provide the relevant figures, the reasons for that;
(d) whether it has compiled statistics on the current number of students who need school bus service in order to assess if a balance between the supply and demand of school bus service has been achieved; if not, of the reasons for that; what other means by which the authorities assess whether school bus service is adequate;
(e) whether the Education Bureau has established a communication mechanism with the Transport Department to gauge the supply and demand situation of school bus service in various districts and assist those schools which are unable to arrange for school bus service in solving the problem;
(f) of the plans in place to prevent the inadequacy of school bus service from worsening; and
(g) whether it will consider providing incentives or taking other measures to encourage the operators of NFBs with student service endorsement to accord priority to the provision of transport service for students?
Reply:
President,
The Government appreciates that school bus service plays an important role in carrying students to and from schools. The Transport Department (TD) has been closely monitoring the supply situation of school buses and has made arrangements to cater for free market operation. The Education Bureau (EDB) has through maintaining close contact with TD and the schools helped parents arrange school bus service.
There are three types of vehicles for carriage of school children: (i) non-franchised public buses (public NFBs) with student service endorsement (SSE); (ii) school private buses operated by schools or school sponsoring bodies direct; and (iii) school private light buses (SPLBs). At present, about 5,200 non-franchised buses and SPLBs can provide school bus service. They include 3,437 public NFBs with SSE, 67 school private buses and 1,700 SPLBs. While the number of public NFBs with SSE reduced from 3,577 as at end-2011 to 3,437 as at end-August 2013, the number of SPLBs increased from 1,259 to 1,700 during the same period. Meanwhile, the number of students in 2012 dropped by about 5 per cent compared with that in 2011(Note). As a whole, the provision of school bus service has remained largely stable.
The reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The number of public NFBs with SSE, school private buses and SPLBs in the past five years is set out at Annex 1.
(b) Under the current regulatory regime, an operator of public NFBs may, in response to service demand and operating conditions, apply to TD for a single or multiple service endorsement(s). This allows flexibility for a public NFB to provide different types of services according to the market situation. Such services include tour service, hotel service, student service, employees' service, international passenger service, residents' service and contract hire service.
As at end-August 2013, about half of the 7,060 public NFBs in the market (i.e. 3,437 in number) have SSE and can provide school bus service. Of these 3,437 public NFBs, 62 hold SSE only and the remaining 3,375 are in possession of some of the other service endorsement(s) mentioned above in addition to SSE. A summary of public NFBs with SSE in the past five years is set out at Annex 2.
(c) As mentioned in part (b) above, an operator of public NFBs may, in response to market demand, apply to TD for a single or multiple service endorsement(s) to provide different types of services. Under the current regime, an operator is not required to report to TD each time he/she provides school bus service. TD therefore does not have statistics on the number of public NFBs actually providing school bus service.
(d) to (f) At present, schools make their own arrangements for school bus service according to the needs of students and parents. The supply of school bus service depends primarily on free market operation. The Government has endeavoured to respond to market demand through the issue of service endorsements. There are, however, no statistics on the number of students in need of school bus service.
EDB has been maintaining contact with TD and would relay to the latter from time to time the situation faced by the schools with respect to school bus service. EDB also releases information on school bus associations obtained from TD to schools in need so that they can contact the appropriate operators direct.
Taking into account EDB's suggestions, some schools have, in the light of their own circumstances and needs, formed a school bus network. Besides, some schools have adopted other measures to help parents arrange school bus service. They include adjusting school hours and school bus routes to attract operators, arranging the same school bus to serve different schools under the same sponsoring body, etc.
(g) The operation of public NFB service entails considerable one-off capital investment and recurrent expenditure. The number of students using school bus service would, however, vary from time to time (some parents may choose other public transport modes). As such, requiring public NFBs with SSE to accord priority in providing school bus service may lead to a substantial increase in school bus fee. Some operators may also become reluctant to apply for SSE given the reduced flexibility in their operation.
In spite of the above, TD has been closely monitoring the number of various types of non-franchised buses and SPLBs and has made arrangements to cater for free market operation. To allow greater flexibility for operators to deploy their buses according to demand and to increase the number of vehicles providing school bus service, TD has since July 2012 implemented a new measure to allow an operator in possession of SSE, upon application, to use all the public NFBs meeting the relevant requirements in his/her fleet to provide school bus service. Since the implementation of this new measure, an additional 328 vehicles have been granted SSE through it.
To sum up, EDB and TD will continue to closely monitor the demand and supply situation of school bus service and put in place all practicable and useful measures to help parents arrange transportation for their children to and from schools.
Note: The figure reflects the situation in mid-September of both 2011 and 2012. Students enrolled in special schools and special classes of ordinary schools are excluded as they may use private bus service for the disabled.
Ends/Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:04
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