The Legislative Council today (30th) passed a proposed resolution moved by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Chan Fan, under the Road Traffic Ordinance to maintain the total number of public light bus vehicles at 4,350 vehicles until June 20, 2027.
Yi Zhiming, a member of the shipping and transportation sector, said that the continuous expansion of the railway network has narrowed the living space of other public transport vehicles, and urged the government to formulate a long-term development blueprint for public light buses.
Members urge to draw a long-term blueprint for minibuses: railway expansion to grab passengers
Yi Zhiming said that at present, Hong Kong's public transportation is based on railways, and the continuous expansion of the railway network has narrowed the living space of other public transportation. The route reorganization has little effect, and a long-term development blueprint for public light buses is urged.
He said that among the more than 1,000 red minibuses, about 500 have been stopped, and he suggested that the government allow the red minibuses operating at regular and fixed locations to be converted into green minibuses.
He mentioned that the minibus industry is facing the problem of insufficient and aging drivers, and the government must improve the operating environment of public light buses and speed up the adjustment of fares in order to solve the problem.
DAB Chan Heng-pung pointed out that the operating costs of minibuses continue to rise, and the driver’s salary cannot be increased, making it difficult to attract young people to enter the industry. It is suggested that the government review the current arrangement of restricted areas for minibuses, and that minibuses can be added to new development areas in the future, such as the northern metropolitan area, etc. route planning.
He suggested that the government provide more assistance to the minibus industry to help the industry tide over the epidemic.
Chen Fan: Optimizing minibus routes to give full play to the connection function
Chen Fan said that in the next five years, it is expected that after the epidemic gradually eases and social distancing measures are relaxed, the supply and demand of public light bus services will gradually return to normal.
In addition, in order to meet the traffic demands of the new development areas, in addition to the new railway lines being planned, the Transport Department will continue to optimize the routes and services of green minibuses, including the introduction of new green minibus routes for interested parties to bid for operation, so as to play an effective role. connection function.
He pointed out that the government has also invested in the research and development of a data collection system and installed positioning devices on all green minibuses in Hong Kong so that passengers can obtain real-time arrival information of green minibuses through the Transport Department's mobile application "HKeMobility".
The real-time arrival time of green green minibuses can be checked by the "Travel Easy" APP which covers about 70% of the routes. The new crown vaccine is covered by electric minibuses. The food goes around three or four times a day by car
