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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (May 28):
Question:
Regarding franchised bus services, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the reasons for the substantial reduction over the past two years in the annual numbers of new buses approved, by the Transport Department (TD), to be purchased under the Forward Planning Programme by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited;
(b) whether it knows the reasons for the substantial reduction over the past two years in the numbers of buses decommissioned annually by most of the franchised bus companies;
(c) of the utilisation rate of the buses of each franchised bus company in each of the past three years; and
(d) of the details of the Bus Route Development Programme submitted recently by each franchised bus company to TD (Annex 1)?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The number of buses approved by the Transport Department (TD) for purchase by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) over the past two years decreased because of the smaller number of KMB buses reaching retirement age during this period. Moreover, there has been a continuous decline in KMB's passenger demand in recent years. Meanwhile, both TD and KMB have been exploring and promoting the rationalisation of bus routes to enhance network efficiency, so as to provide proper and efficient services to meet passenger demand on the one hand and reduce the frequency of buses, particularly those operating on busy corridors, to relieve traffic congestion on the other hand. As a result, there has been a reduction in the number of additional new buses required by KMB in recent years.
(b) The drop in the number of buses decommissioned by most of the franchised bus companies over the past two years is also due to the fact that fewer buses reached retirement age during the same period.
(c) In the past three years, fleet utilisation of franchised bus companies remained at about 90%. Fleet utilisation in daily operation of all the companies does not reach 100% because some buses have to undergo repair or maintenance and various types of inspections.
(d) Details of the Bus Route Development Programme of each franchised bus company of the latest year (year 2008/09) are set out at the Annex 2.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:52
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