LCQ10: Services of Licensing Offices under Transport Department
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     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hoi-yan and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Mr Lam Sai-hung, in the Legislative Council today (March 29):
 
Question:

     It has been reported that there are often long queues of members of the public waiting for services at the lobbies of the Licensing Offices under the Transport Department (TD), and some members of the public even need to queue up waiting for three hours before they can receive services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the numbers of applications processed by the four Licensing Offices under the TD (i.e. (i) Hong Kong Licensing Office, (ii) Kowloon Licensing Office, (iii) Kwun Tong Licensing Office and (iv) Sha Tin Licensing Office) through service counters in each of the past three years (set out in Table 1);

Table 1
Licensing Office 2020 2021 2022
(i)      
...      
(iv)      

(2) of the (a) maximum and (b) minimum numbers of applications submitted through service counters that the aforesaid Licensing Offices were able to process every day in each of the past three years (set out in Table 2);

Table 2
Licensing Office 2020 2021 2022
(a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b)
(i)            
…            
(iv)            

(3) whether the TD has compiled statistics on the respective average waiting times needed by members of the public for receiving licensing services at the various Licensing Offices;

(4) given that the TD has implemented a trial scheme on a queue ticketing system for driving licensing related services at the Kowloon Licensing Office since May 31 last year, whether the TD has reviewed the effectiveness and operational difficulties of the scheme;

(5) of the respective numbers of non-counter applications for the issuance and renewal of full driving licences in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the channel for submitting applications (i.e. (i) Internet, (ii) drop-in boxes and (iii) post) in Table 3 and Table 4;

Table 3
Number of applications for the issuance of full driving licences
Channel for submitting applications 2020 2021 2022
(i)      
(ii)      
(iii)      

Table 4
Number of applications for the renewal of full driving licences
Channel for submitting applications 2020 2021 2022
(i)      
(ii)      
(iii)      

(6) of the respective numbers of non-counter applications for the issuance and renewal of vehicle licences and trailer licences in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the aforesaid three channels for submitting applications in Table 5 and Table 6; and

Table 5
Number of applications for the issuance of vehicle and trailer licences
Channel for submitting applications 2020 2021 2022
(i)      
(ii)      
(iii)      

Table 6
Number of applications for the renewal of vehicle and trailer licences
Channel for submitting applications 2020 2021 2022
(i)      
(ii)      
(iii)      

(7) whether the TD will consider providing more online licensing services; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     During the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few years, the Transport Department (TD) kept closely monitoring the development of the epidemic situation and strived to gradually and orderly resume all licensing-related services which had been affected by the social distancing measures as soon as possible. Since April 21, 2022, the TD has resumed walk-in counter services at its Licensing Offices to handle various types of licensing applications. The reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(1) According to TD's established practice in compilation of statistics of Licensing Offices, application channels are classified into applications submitted through "the Internet" and those through "other application channels". The latter covers applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post, with no further breakdown solely on those submitted at service counters. The total numbers of applications processed by TD's Licensing Offices by the said classification of application channels in the past three years are set out below:
 
Application channels 2020 2021 2022
(i) Applications submitted through the Internet 93 505 96 207 147 963
(ii) Applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post 1 994 986 2 171 458 2 136 969
Total 2 088 491 2 267 665 2 284 932
Note: Walk-in counter services at TD's Licensing Offices were suspended for 108, 31 and 51 working days in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively in response to the development of the epidemic situation.

     Since the enhancement of computer systems from August 2022, the TD has started compiling statistics on the workloads of respective Licensing Offices. The numbers of applications processed by the respective Licensing Offices upon receipt at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post from August to December 2022 are as follows:
 
  August - December 2022
(i) Hong Kong Licensing Office 394 779
(ii) Kowloon Licensing Office 330 904
(iii) Kwun Tong Licensing Office 119 739
(iv) Sha Tin Licensing Office 153 716
Total 999 138

(2) With statistics compiled on a monthly basis, the average number of applications processed every day by the Licensing Offices can be calculated based on the number of working days in each month. Over the past three years, the total numbers of applications processed by the four Licensing Offices per day on average are deduced accordingly as follows:
 
  2020 2021 2022
(i) Applications submitted through the Internet 294 - 438 354 - 444 485 - 797
(ii) Applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post 4 685 - 9 722 6 580 - 9 546 4 850 - 10 073

     The average numbers of applications processed every day by the respective Licensing Offices upon receipt at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post from August to December 2022 are as follows (calculated on a pro-rata basis with the number of working days in each month):
 
  August - December 2022
(i) Hong Kong Licensing Office 3 302 - 4 009
(ii) Kowloon Licensing Office 2 771 - 3 245
(iii) Kwun Tong Licensing Office 970 - 1 217
(iv) Sha Tin Licensing Office 1 278 - 1 542

(3) The performance pledge for licensing services in the Licensing Offices under the TD are as follows:
 
Service Performance Pledge
(Waiting time of counter service)
 		 Target of Achievement within the Performance Pledge Time
(per cent)
(i) Providing vehicle licence (VL) renewal service over the counter 70 minutes 95
(ii) Providing driving licence (DL) renewal service over the counter 70 minutes 98

     In 2022, for applications received via service counters with the relevant requirements met, necessary valid documents submitted and the fees settled, 97 per cent of VL renewal applications and 99 per cent of DL renewal applications were completed within 70 minutes respectively.

(4) The TD has implemented a trial queue ticketing system for DL related services at the Kowloon Licensing Office since May 31, 2022, to relieve overcrowding at its lobby. Starting from June 8, 2022, the TD has increased the daily quota from 260 to 300 to cater for the public's keen demand for licensing services. The trial system is generally smooth in operation and effective in reducing queue ticket holders' queuing time for counter service. The TD plans to extend the system to DL related services provided by other Licensing Offices in the third quarter of 2023.

(5) The TD has been providing online application service for renewal of full DLs for years. Members of the public can now submit such online applications by using an "iAM Smart+" account with digital signing function or a digital certificate, or a Renewal Password issued by the TD for authentication, without having to process their applications at the counters of the Licensing Offices. The online application service was also extended to the issuance of full DLs in November 2022.

     The respective numbers of applications for renewal of full DL processed by the TD in the past three years are as follows:
 
  2020 2021 2022
(i) Applications submitted through the Internet 63 589 49 558 52 734
(ii) Applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post 122 551 108 947 94 667
Total 186 140 158 505 147 401
Note: The number of applications for renewal of full DL dropped in the past three years due to the end of the periodic renewal upsurge in 2021. Since the introduction of full DL with a validity of ten years, there has been a periodic upsurge in renewal applications every 10 years.

     The respective numbers of applications for issuance of full DL processed by the TD in the past three years are as follows:
 
  2020 2021 2022
(i) Applications submitted through the Internet N/A N/A 69
(ii) Applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post 57 828 65 467 72 003
Total 57 828 65 467 72 072

(6) Following the launch of the "iAM Smart" one-stop personalised digital services platform by the Government in December 2020, members of the public who have registered for "iAM Smart+", which comes with a digital signing function, can use the TD's online services to submit applications for renewal of VL without having to queue up for counter services at the Licensing Offices. It is more convenient than the past practice of just accepting applications for renewal of VL online using a valid digital certificate. In the past three years, the respective numbers of applications for renewal of VL and trailer licence processed by the TD are as follows:
 
  2020 2021 2022
(i) Applications submitted through the Internet 7 325 34 704 82 780
(ii) Applications submitted at service counters, by drop-in boxes and by post 816 453 798 621 756 951
Total 823 778 833 325 839 731

     As for the issuance of VLs and trailer licences, applications are usually submitted alongside those for the first registration of vehicles. In addition to submitting the Application for Registration and Licensing of a Vehicle and the documents required to the Hong Kong Licensing Office in person, electronic submission of applications for preliminary vetting has been made available since December 2022. In the past three years, the respective numbers of applications for issuance of VL and trailer licence processed by the TD are as follows:
 
  2020 2021 2022
Number of applications for issuance of VL and trailer licence 51 411 50 647 42 330

(7) The TD has been striving to extend online licensing services to reduce the reliance on counter services while providing the public with greater convenience so that they can save waiting time at the Licensing Offices and submit applications anytime and anywhere.

     Riding on the launch of "iAM Smart", the TD has accepted authentication by "iAM Smart" in 18 types of its online licensing services, which include renewal of full DLs and VLs. The TD is also working to further enhance the service efficiency of its Licensing Offices to provide greater convenience to the public, including extending the online licensing services to cover other types of licence applications and introducing electronic form of permits and licences. Details are as follows:
 
  • on electronic permits (e-Permits), the TD has been rolling out the electronic form of permits, licences and certificates (collectively referred to as "permits") by phases since December 2022. E-permits are issued in portable document format (pdf) and sent to applicants by email for printing and display;
 
  • on electronic VLs (eVLs), the TD plans to complete the implementation of eVLs by 2024 so that all licensed vehicle owners will no longer need to replace their paper-form VLs upon annual renewal. The TD also plans to streamline and automate online application procedures, with a view to reducing the time for processing applications which do not involve manual checking from 10 working days to less than three working days within 2024; and
 
  • on electronic DLs (eDLs), the TD plans to introduce eDLs in 2024 so as to provide all DL holders with a convenient option for use of eDLs on their smartphones while driving.

     The TD will continue to encourage more members of the public to submit licensing applications online without having to queue up in person for processing their applications at Licensing Offices so as to save time.

Ends/Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Issued at HKT 12:20

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