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Following is a question by the Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (January 6):
Question:
In recent years, a number of franchised bus companies (bus companies) have, through smartphone applications and installation of display panels at bus stops, provided passengers waiting for buses with real-time information such as the departure and estimated arrival times of their buses (real-time bus service information). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details (including the commencement dates of the works, the latest progress, the anticipated dates of completion of the works and the facilities involved) of the enhancement works on bus stop facilities proposed by bus companies and agreed by the relevant District Councils (DCs) in the past three years;
(2) regarding the proposals on enhancement works on bus stop facilities which are under consideration by the Transport Department (TD) and yet to be submitted to DCs for discussion, of the details (including the locations of the bus stops involved, the facilities involved, and the latest progress regarding the TD's consideration of the proposals) of them;
(3) of the mechanism adopted by the TD for vetting and approving applications for installing display panels at en route bus stops; of the number of such applications received by the TD since January last year, and set out the following information for each application: (i) the location of the bus stop, (ii) the bus route involved, (iii) the date of receipt of the application, (iv) the anticipated completion date of the works, and (v) the latest progress of the vetting and approval of the application; whether it knows the average installation cost and monthly recurrent expenditure for each display panel;
(4) of the measures put in place by the TD to encourage bus companies to expeditiously enhance the provision of real-time bus service information for passengers, and to accord priority to the provision of service information on bus routes with lower frequencies or higher patronage by elderly passengers;
(5) as I have learnt that due to technical problems, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is currently still unable to provide real-time bus service information on the cross-harbour routes jointly operated by it and other bus companies, whether the TD has assisted KMB in solving the problem; if the TD has, of the details, and whether, according to its assessment, the problem can be resolved; if it can be resolved, the expected time for providing real-time bus service information on these jointly operated routes; and
(6) whether the TD has encouraged public transport operators to open up the real-time data on the arrivals of their transport vehicles to enable the TD and other organisations to develop systems for providing real-time information on transport services; if the TD has, of the current progress; if not, whether the TD will encourage these operators to open up the data?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to the various parts of the Hon Wu Chi-wai's question is as follows:
During the three-year period from 2013 to 2015, the franchised bus companies had, in the course of consultation on bus route rationalisation under the "Area Approach", briefed District Councils (DCs) on larger-scale enhancement works at Tai Lam Tunnel Bus-Bus Interchange and five major bus stops in Kowloon (i.e. bus stops outside Wong Tai Sin Plaza on Lung Cheung Road, the Kowloon Central Post Office on Nathan Road, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza on Cheung Sha Wan Road, Millennium City on Kwun Tong Road and Regal Oriental Hotel on Prince Edward Road East). Such projects generally involve the enhancement of multiple facilities, such as installation of real-time bus service information display panels, signs for waiting passengers and large route information panels, as well as provision of free wireless Internet access service. Please refer to Annex 1 for details. At present, the Transport Department (TD) does not have other bus stop enhancement proposals of comparable scale to brief DCs. In addition, the TD and the franchised bus companies carry out relatively simpler enhancement works of smaller scale (such as for the installation of seats or information display panels only) from time to time. There are around tens of such projects each year.
To provide more information to passengers, the franchised bus companies have installed real-time bus service information display panels at public transport interchanges/bus termini, major bus-bus interchanges and bus shelters. Please refer to Annex 2 for details. The majority of the display panels in Annex 2 are provided by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) and Long Win Bus Company Limited (LW). Meanwhile, Citybus Limited (Franchise for Hong Kong Island and Cross-Harbour Bus Network) (Citybus (Franchise 1)) and New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited (NLB) have undertaken to install about 100 electronic panels in phases to display real-time bus service information at sheltered bus termini or bus shelters with electricity supply under their new franchises. The new franchises will commence in June this year and March next year respectively.
Within the next few years, the franchised bus companies will start providing real-time bus service information for their bus routes in phases to facilitate passengers in planning their journey and knowing their waiting times. Given the time required for the preparatory work, individual companies will have different arrangements with regard to their implementation timetable and the order of bus routes to be covered. The TD has been actively co-ordinating the discussion between the relevant franchised bus companies on the introduction of real-time bus service information for jointly operated routes, with due regard to the convenience for passengers as well as smooth operation of bus services and bus stop announcement system. The TD will continue its work in this regard.
Since the operation of the real-time bus service information system is still in its initial stage, and that the capital and recurrent expenditures involved are commercial information, the Government is unable to provide such information.
As per the prevailing practice, the franchised bus companies are not required to apply to the TD for installation of information display panels.
Meanwhile, the franchised bus companies have already been providing information on service hours, frequencies, termini, en route stops, full and section fares, etc. of individual bus routes for passengers through their websites and smartphone applications (apps). KMB and LW have started to provide passengers with real-time bus service information through their websites and smartphone apps since early 2015. Real-time bus service information is available for over 420 routes (or around 80 per cent of routes operated by the companies) so far, and the service will be extended to the remaining routes progressively. Citybus Limited (Franchise for Airport and North Lantau Bus Network) (Citybus (Franchise 2)) is also providing real-time bus services information for its nine airport bus routes through its website and smartphone app.
Citybus (Franchise 1), New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) and NLB have not yet provided real-time bus service information for their routes. Nevertheless, Citybus (Franchise 1) and NLB have committed to introducing real-time bus service information systems in phases upon commencement of their new franchises later this year and next year respectively. Passengers will then be able to obtain real-time bus service information of all bus routes operated by the two franchisees through mobile platforms (including smartphone apps). Upon the full implementation of the system for bus routes of Citybus (Franchise 1), the system will be extended to all bus routes of NWFB and Citybus (Franchise 2) which belong to the same parent group.
The TD is committed to promoting intelligent transport and has been co-operating with the transport trades to provide various types of transport information for the convenience of the public. The franchised bus companies have to make substantial investment in the development of real-time bus service information systems and in the subsequent maintenance of their smooth operation. Such information is disseminated to passengers via smartphones, computers and display panels at bus stops. The data so involved are owned by the companies concerned. Such data are substantial in volume and subject to rapid changes. They also relate to the commercial operation of individual bus operators. For greater convenience of the passengers, the TD is exploring with the franchised bus companies the addition of a new function to the TD's "Hong Kong eTransport" smartphone app by hyperlinking to real-time bus service information of individual bus routes. After finalising the implementation arrangements, members of the public will be able to access the estimated arrival time in addition to service information of bus routes operated by different franchised bus companies through "Hong Kong eTransport".
Ends/Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:00
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