TD's response to POOA's statement

Referring to a press statement by the Public Omnibus Operators Association Ltd (POOA) today (May 22), a spokesman of Transport Department (TD) said, "TD processes each application for licence for non-franchised buses (NFB) in accordance with the law and such applications are approved or otherwise on that basis."

"In processing the applications, the Department is required by law to take into account the factors stipulated in section 28 of the Road Traffic Ordinance, Chapter 374. These factors include inter alia the need for the services to be provided by the applicant, the level of service already provided or planned by other public transport operators, traffic conditions in the areas and on the roads where the services are to be provided, and the standard of service to be provided by the applicant."

"The Road Traffic Ordinance does not impose a limit on the number of non-franchised bus licences to be issued. Each application will be considered on its merits in accordance with the relevant legal provisions", the spokesman said.

He said, "In order to ensure the efficient use of Hong Kong's limited road space, we accord priority to the development of mass carriers. However, we also attach importance to the provision of choice of services to passengers. Hence there are different modes of public transport to meet the traffic demand of the community. In our long established transport policy, non-franchised bus services play a supplementary role in meeting specific demands. For example, Residents' Services (RS) performs a supplementary role in the public transport system by providing services primarily during the peak hours to help reduce the peak-hour demand on the mass carriers."

"RS provide a peak hour supplementary service for passengers to or from residential developments and generally serve areas not adequately served by railways, franchised buses or GMBs. In view of the limited road space in Hong Kong, normally RS should not operate long haul routes nor routes to busy urban corridors and they should focus on providing service to nearby railway stations or major public transport interchanges."

Referring to operation of free bus service, the spokesman said TD appreciates that there are circumstances where there is a need for free bus services for short-term promotional purposes such as flat viewing, shopping mall promotion, etc. On the other hand, contract-hire service is approved to allow public bus operators to meet ad hoc demand, e.g. picnics, wedding, etc. This latter type of service is normally confined to a specific group and there is no fixed routeing or destination. It is not meant to be a regular service. No separate fares should be charged for contract-hire service.

"On the basis that the need for a regular service should be considered with due regard to the factors stipulated in section 28 of the Road Traffic Ordinance, prior approval by TD is needed if a free bus service, on which carriage is offered to any member of the public, with a fixed routeing or fixed destination area is to be operated by the same operator for more than 14 days either consecutively or intermittently during a continuous period of 12 months. An operator operating such regular service without the necessary approval would have violated the relevant licensing conditions," he said.

With regard to the operation of Employee Services (ES), the spokesman said that ESs are provided by an employer for the carriage to or from their place of work of passengers who are persons employed by him. ES performs a supplementary role in the public transport system and applications for licences to run these services are also subject to the requirements in section 28 of the Road Traffic Ordinance.

Commenting on POOA's appeal that more room should be provided for the NFB trade, the spokesman said that in 2001, TD approved a total of 100 applications to operate new RS, ES and free bus services, after taking account of the factors stipulated in section 28 of the Road Traffic Ordinance. These figures illustrate that TD has handled applications for NFB licences positively where there are justifications for such services.

The spokesman said TD needs to tighten enforcement action against unauthorised public bus operation because such unauthorised operation leads to traffic problems on roads and at kerbsides, especially in busy corridors. There are increasing concerns among members of the public on this problem. The operation of unauthorised public bus also affects the legitimate operation of other public transport modes.

The spokesman said: "We have a comprehensive public transport network serving the general public, and there is continuous improvement in the quality of the public transport services. TD will continue to monitor passenger demand closely to ensure that service provision matches with demand. For exceptional cases where no alternative public transport service is available and there are identified genuine needs for a RS which has not been authorised by TD in the past, TD would consider formalising the operation of the relevant RS for operation to the nearby railway stations or major public transport interchanges."