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The Transport Department (TD) today (October 5) said that in view of the announcement made by the Education Bureau on the resumption of classes of secondary schools in the Wan Chai and Central & Western districts tomorrow (October 6), Citybus (CTB) Route 40M will provide a special service operating from Queen's Road Central in Central to Pokfield Road (circular route) to facilitate students and teachers to go to school starting tomorrow.
The first departure of the special bus service of route 40M will be at 6.15am from Queen's Road Central (near Bank Street) in Central and the headway is 10 minutes until 9am. After 9am until 6pm, the headway of the special bus service is 15 minutes. Please refer to Annex 1 for details of the special service of route 40M and Annex 2 for locations of the bus stop.
While Queensway remains closed, New World First Bus (NWFB) Route 23 and CTB Route 40 are suspended and truncated respectively. Students and teachers who cannot take the two bus routes from the Eastern and Wan Chai districts to go to schools in the Central & Western District are advised to take the special service of route 40M.
Meanwhile, CTB Route 12A is also suspended and failed to provide service to students and teachers of schools on MacDonnell Road due to the closure of Queensway. Students and teachers going to schools on MacDonnell Road are reminded to plan their trips in advance and allow more time for travelling to schools.
The school day bus service from Southern District to the schools in Central & Western District, including NWFB Routes 93 and 93A and CTB Routes 40P and 93C, will resume tomorrow. Teachers and students may also take existing available bus routes travelling between Southern District and Central & Western District, including NWFB Routes 4, 4X, 91 and 94, CTB Routes 7, 37B, 40, 40M, M47, 71 and 71P and Cross Harbour Routes 970, 971 and 973. The service of these bus routes may be adjusted due to road closure.
Regarding Wan Chai District, teachers and students are advised to take MTR service to go to schools in the district. MTR will continue to closely monitor the passenger demand and strengthen its service as necessary. For teachers and students travelling to the schools in Happy Valley and Tai Hang Road, they may take CTB Routes 8X and 19 between Siu Sai Wan and Happy Valley, or the temporarily diverted bus routes from Wan Chai, including CTB Route 1 to Happy Valley, CTB Route 11 and 511 to Tai Hang and Jardine's Lookout.
Since tomorrow is the first normal working day after the National Day long holidays, and coupled with the closure of a number of major trunk roads such as Queensway, Harcourt Road, Gloucester Road and Nathan Road, and the saturation of the alternative roads such as Leighton Road, inner Gloucester Road and Kennedy Road, it is anticipated that traffic would be much more congested tomorrow. The TD appeals to members of the public going to work or school to pay attention to the department and bus companies' announcement of public transport information. They are advised to plan their trips in advance, start their trips earlier and allow more time for travelling tomorrow. Drivers should avoid driving to Hong Kong Island especially the affected districts and school areas as far as possible.
Ends/Sunday, October 5, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:40
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