Constructive meeting held between TD and POOA

The Transport Department (TD) held a constructive meeting with the Public Omnibus Operators Association (POOA) this morning to listen to the views of the Association and explained the Department's position in relation to the regulation of Resident Services (RS).

At the meeting, the Transport Department clarified the three misunderstandings on lack of consultation, unfair allocation of bus stops and the allegation that a Transport Department official had hinted that the operators could go to 'slow-drive" if they were dissatisfied.

The Department also reaffirmed the RS's supplementary role in public transport in the peak hours and under this principle, agreed to consider requests on bus stopping arrangements on a route by route basis for alighting the morning peak.

The Department explained and the POOA agreed that as traffic congestion in the Central Business Districts (CBD) had been serious, it was not possible to relax the boarding arrangements in the evening peak. The Department told the POOA that since the implementation of the rationalisation scheme of RS, 156 additional trips which were operated by existing authorised RS routes were approved by the TD. TD also explained that in line with the transport policy and the congestion in CBD, it would be very difficult to approve new RS routes to operate from NT to the Central.

The meeting reaffirmed the POOA's support to the Government's effort in tackling illegal RS activities. This will be sustained by enforcement actions by the TD and the Police.

The RS rationalisation scheme was implemented in three phases. Since the second phase which was implemented on May 8, the number of stopping activities of RS in CBD had been reduced from 2,400 to 1,700. Observations by the TD showed that traffic had improved.

End/Tuesday, May 16, 2000

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