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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Yau Shing-mu, at the Legislative Council meeting today (December 18):
Question:
Recently, quite a number of members of the public have complained to me that as lost trips are frequent in franchised bus services, they have wasted a lot of time waiting for buses. It is learnt that bus companies in many cities have already made use of satellite navigation systems to keep track of the locations of the buses in their fleets to provide the estimated arrival time of buses to passengers waiting for buses. Regarding the franchised bus services, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of complaints about franchised bus services received by the Transport Complaints Unit (TCU) under the Transport Advisory Committee, the 1823 Call Centre and the hotlines of the franchised bus companies concerned in the past three years (set out in the table below); if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that;
Franchised bus TCU 1823 Call Franchised bus
company under centre company concerned
complaint
-------------- --- -------- -----------------
Kowloon Motor
Bus Company
(1933)
Limited (KMB)
--------------
New World Bus
Services
Limited
--------------
Citybus Limited
---------------
New Lantao Bus
Company (1973)
Limited
---------------
(b)”@of the number of site investigations conducted in the past three years by the Transport Department”]TD”^in response to complaints received about lost trips of buses, with a breakdown by District Council district in which investigation was conducted; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that;
(c)”@given that the Government stated in its reply to a question of a Member of this Council in May 2011 that "TD often meets with the bus companies and bus captain unions to exchange views on ways to improve bus services", of the details (including the matters discussed) of the relevant meetings held in the past five years; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that;
(d)”@given that the Government stated in its reply to the question cited above that "[i]n case a franchised bus company fails to make improvement or provide reasonable explanations in relation to the relevant complaint, the TD will issue letters to the relevant bus company regarding the complaint, requesting the bus company to maintain a satisfactory and efficient public bus service, and to implement improvement measures within a certain period of time", and if "the ...... companies are unable to make improvements within a specified period of time, the TD will issue a warning letter to the relevant bus company", of the respective numbers of (i) letters issued regarding the complaints, and (ii) warning letters issued by TD in the past three years and the details of those letters; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that;
(e)”@given that the Government stated in its reply to the question cited above that it would continue to liaise with the relevant organisations to keep abreast of the latest technological development for introducing intelligent technologies to monitor and minimise lost or delayed trips in franchised bus services, of the present progress in this respect; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that;
(f)”@whether the authorities will consider including provisions in the franchise agreements to be signed with bus companies in future to require such companies to provide passengers with real-time bus service information of all routes; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(g)”@as I have learnt that as most of the trips of some franchised bus routes (e.g. route nos. 2B, 2C and 2D of the KMB) are not serviced by wheelchair accessible low-floor buses, coupled with the serious problems of low frequency and lost trips, wheelchair users often have to wait for as long as an hour before they can board a bus, whether the Government will require franchised bus companies to use low-floor buses for all trips of those routes patronised by more wheelchair users; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
”@”@Major reasons for lost bus trips are shortage of bus captains, shortage of buses due to repairs and maintenance, mechanical breakdown of vehicles, and traffic congestion or traffic accidents. The Transport Department (TD) has been closely monitoring and following up on the situation. With TD's directive for improvement and franchised bus companies' active implementation of rectification measures, the situation has considerably improved since mid-2012. TD will continue with its endeavour to facilitate and monitor the efforts of franchised bus companies in improving services and upgrading facilities.
”@”@My reply to the various parts of the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan's question is as follows:
(a) Number of complaints on irregular bus services received by the Transport Complaints Unit (TCU) under the Transport Advisory Committee and 1823 Call Centre over the three-year period from 2010 to 2012 is at Annex I.
(b) Irrespective of whether there are complaints about lost trips, TD conducts site inspections from time to time to monitor the provision of bus services and collect information on service level. Over the three-year period from 2010 to 2012, TD conducted about 1 100, 1 300 and 1 700 site inspections respectively to monitor service frequencies. TD does not have breakdown of statistics specifically on site inspections conducted in response to complaints about lost trips.
”@”@One or more bus routes may be covered by a single inspection, and several District Councils (DCs) or DC districts may be served by a single route. As such, the TD does not have the statistics of inspections by district.
(c) In its capacity as a regulator, TD meets with franchised bus companies from time to time having regard to the actual circumstances to discuss issues which concern bus services and other issues of mutual concern. Over the five-year period from 2008 to 2012, an average of 17 formal meetings were held annually to discuss issues including route planning, service frequency, service level, operational safety, bus captains' working environment, etc.. During the same period, TD had on average held two formal meetings annually with bus captain unions to discuss issues including working arrangements, improvement measures on operational safety, etc.. Union representatives would take the opportunity to relay to TD the views of bus captains on matters such as working environment of bus captains and staff welfare. TD also maintains informal contacts with franchised bus companies and bus captain unions.
(d) When it is suspected from complaints received through various channels or bus service inspections that there are lost trips, TD will usually follow up with the relevant bus company via letters or emails. In case the bus company fails to provide reasonable explanations or make improvement, TD will remind the bus company in writing the need to maintain a satisfactory and efficient public bus service and to implement improvement measures within a certain period of time. Depending on the persistence and severity of the case, TD may issue warning letters in respect of lost trips of individual routes or the overall situation and again require the bus company concerned to make improvement within a specified period of time. Number of warning letters in respect of lost trip cases issued by TD to franchised bus companies over the three-year period from 2010 to 2012 is at Annex II. TD does not have separate statistics on letters (or emails) issued in respect of general follow-up and those issued to remind bus companies to make improvement.
(e) & (f) TD has all along encouraged franchised bus companies to make use of information technology in providing passengers with service information. The relevant clauses have been updated in the new franchises of the New World First Bus Services Limited, Long Win Bus Company Limited (LW) and Citybus Limited (Franchise for Airport and North Lantau Bus Network) (Citybus (F2)) commencing this year to enhance the regulatory power of the Commissioner for Transport (the Commissioner) over the type, form and manner through which service information is provided by bus companies to passengers. Revised franchise clauses specifically require the provision of service information by bus companies at their websites in accordance with the requirements of the Commissioner. Furthermore, these companies have committed to provide passenger information and enquiry system via the internet and smart phone applications, and to further enhance the system as necessary in future. The Government plans to include similar clauses and request the franchisees to make similar service commitments in the other three franchises when they expire in 2016/17.
”@”@In fact, a bus company is already providing real-time bus arrival information for selected routes at its website and via smart phone applications. Some bus companies are also trying out the use of estimated bus arrival time system at major interchanges.
”@”@Under section 18 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230) and the current franchise clauses, a franchised bus company shall keep, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, proper records in respect of bus operation, including the number of buses in use on each route; the number of journeys and total kilometres travelled per day; and the number of lost trips due to accidents, vehicle breakdown as well as vehicle and staff shortages. The bus company shall furnish copies of the records to the Commissioner at such times and in such form and manner (e.g. computer output) as the Commissioner may require. Currently, TD can directly access the above operational information electronically via computer terminals. If lost trips of individual routes are identified at a particular location and during a certain time period, TD will take follow-up actions. This arrangement, together with site inspections by TD, allows effective monitoring of the situation.
(g) Since 2001, franchised bus companies have been acquiring wheelchair-accessible low-floor models when purchasing new buses or replacing existing buses whenever possible, with the only exception of the New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited”]NLB). This is because low-floor buses are not suitable for operation on some roads with steep gradient and sharp bends in South Lantau. NLB can therefore only procure as far as possible wheelchair-accessible low-floor buses for use on bus routes not covering such roads. All buses operated by LW and Citybus (F2) are now accessible by wheelchair users.
”@”@As at end-September 2013, there were about 4 050 wheelchair-accessible low-floor buses, accounting for 70% of the entire franchised bus fleet. Meanwhile, the vast majority (80-100%) of buses serving route no. 2B, 2C and 2D of the Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd (KMB) mentioned in the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan's question are low-floor ones. It is expected that all franchised buses (excluding a small number of NLB buses) will be wheelchair-accessible low-floor models by around 2015/16.
”@”@At present, bus companies will deploy low-floor buses to serve different routes having regard to actual operation and passenger needs. If necessary, wheelchair users may enquire about the departures of individual routes (such as route no. 2B, 2C and 2D of KMB) served by low-floor buses via the customer service hotlines of bus companies.
Ends/Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:30
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