************************************
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 (June 11):
Regarding the standard of the bus services of various franchised bus companies, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has conducted any survey on the situation of lost bus trips of various franchised bus companies in 2013; if it has, of the overall rate of lost trips, and set out a breakdown by bus company and the District Council district from which the bus routes start;
(2) of the number of complaints concerning franchised bus services received by the Government in 2013 and, among such complaints, the number of those involving lost trips; and
(3) given that when it responded in January this year to the Direct Investigation Report of the Office of The Ombudsman, Hong Kong, on "Mechanism of Transport Department for Monitoring the Frequencies of Franchised Bus Services", the Government undertook to review the definition of lost bus trips and the current system of sanctions, of the progress of and the timetables for such reviews?
Reply:
President,
Given franchised bus service is closely related to the daily life of the public, the Government has always been very concerned about the reliability of such service. The Transport Department (TD) has all along been closely monitoring the level of franchised bus service through various channels (such as operational records, regular investigations and passengers' complaints/suggestions). TD and franchised bus companies would also review the prevailing measures from time to time with a view to further enhancing the quality of franchised bus service.
Major reasons for lost trips in franchised bus service include shortage of bus captains, shortage of buses due to repairs and maintenance, mechanical breakdown of vehicles and road congestion or traffic accidents, etc.. TD has all along been closely monitoring and following up on deviation from service schedules and lost trips. With TD's directive for improvement and franchised bus companies' active implementation of rectification measures, the lost trip situation has improved considerably since mid-2012. TD will continue with its efforts to facilitate and monitor service improvement by franchised bus companies.
My reply to the three parts of the Hon Ma Fung-kwok's question is as follows:
(1) The average lost trip rate of franchised bus service in Hong Kong was about 2.6% in 2013. The overall average lost trip rate of each franchised bus company in that year ranged from 0.1% to 2.8% as tabulated below. Lost trip rate refers to the rate of the difference between actual bus trips and scheduled trips.
Franchised Overall average
bus company (Note 1) lost trip rate
--------------------- -----------------
KMB 2.8%
NWFB 2.6%
Citybus (F1) 2.0%
LW 1.4%
Citybus (F2) 1.0%
NLB 0.1%
--------------------- -----------------
Overall lost trip rate 2.6%
in Hong Kong
The breakdown of lost trip rate in 2013 by District Councils (DCs) in which the bus routes terminate is at Annex. There are two terminating points for each bus route (except for circular routes). The lost trip rate would be reflected under both DCs. Further, some lost trips are caused by circumstances beyond the control of bus companies. Such circumstances include traffic congestion.
(2) In 2013, TD received a total of 16 759 views (Note 2) on franchised bus service (i.e. about 12 cases per million franchised bus passengers) from the Transport Complaints Unit under the Transport Advisory Committee and 1823 Call Centre. Among these views, 7 524 of them are about irregular bus service (Note 3) (i.e. about five cases per million franchised bus passengers), representing about 40% of all views received.
(3) The Ombudsman's Direct Investigation Report released in January this year pointed out that there was room for improvement to TD's mechanism for monitoring the frequencies of franchised bus service. Its recommendations include reviewing the definition of lost trips of franchised buses as well as the current sanction regime. TD is following up on these recommendations. As regards the definition of lost trips, the lost trip rates now being calculated on a daily basis are reliable. Yet, in view of the Ombudsman's recommendations, TD and franchised bus companies are discussing how the lost trip situation could be presented more clearly (such as further showing lost trip rates by different time periods) so that the public could better understand the performance of franchised bus service.
On the sanction regime, the Government has already put in place a vigorous and fair statutory and administrative mechanism to closely monitor the service provided by franchised bus companies. As far as statutory arrangements are concerned, if a franchised bus company fails to provide a proper and efficient public bus service in accordance with the requirements under the law and its franchise, the Executive Council may impose a fine on the company or revoke its right to operate any specified routes or its franchise altogether according to the law. As for administrative arrangements, TD will normally follow up on a franchised bus company's non-compliance with TD's requirements regarding service delivery in writing. If the company fails to provide a reasonable explanation or make improvement, TD will remind the operator the need to maintain a satisfactory and efficient public bus service and to implement improvement measures within a specified period of time in writing again. Depending on the persistence and severity of each case, TD may issue warning letters in respect of lost trips of individual routes or the overall situation and require the company to make improvement by a specified time. Franchised bus companies always take TD's reminders and warning letters very seriously and will make improvement as directed in a proactive manner.
In deciding whether to change the current sanction arrangements, we have to take into account that buses have to share road space with other road users. There are thus numerous occasions whereby bus service will be affected by external factors (such as traffic congestion, emergency situation on the road, etc.). From an operational point of view, there would be considerable difficulty in trying to determine precisely whether delays or lost trips are due to factors which fall under a bus company's responsibility or to apportion responsibility with a view to imposing sanctions. In studying whether changing the current sanction arrangements is feasible and meritorious, we shall make reference to the experience of other places. We expect to complete the study within the second half of this year and will report to the Legislative Council afterwards.
Note 1:
KMB: The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited
NWFB: New World First Bus Services Limited
Citybus (F1): Citybus Limited (Franchise for Hong Kong Island and cross-harbour bus network)
Citybus (F2): Citybus Limited (Franchise for Airport and North Lantau bus network)
LW: Long Win Bus Company Limited
NLB: New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited
Note 2: Views include complaints and suggestions. A member of the public may express the same view through different channels, resulting in double-counting of the number of cases.
Note 3: Deviation from service schedules and lost trips are both categorised as "irregular bus service".
Ends/Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:45
NNNN
