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East Rail Crossing the Sea|Red Van Worries About Seizing Passengers on Sai Wan Mong Kok Line

2022-05-12T23:19:01.549Z


[East Rail/Sha-Central Line/Convention Station] The cross-sea section of the East Rail will be opened to traffic on Sunday (15th), becoming the fourth cross-sea railway, and the transportation network will be reshuffled again. Red non-scheduled minibuses "Western" running between Mong Kok and Sai Wan


[East Rail/Sha-Central Line/Convention Station] The cross-sea section of the East Rail will be opened to traffic on Sunday (15th), becoming the fourth cross-sea railway, and the transportation network will be reshuffled again.

The red non-specialized minibus "Sai Mong Line" that travels between Mong Kok and the Western District through the Western Tunnel, whose terminus is close to the East Rail Mong Kok East Station, will become a victim of the opening of the cross-sea section at any time.


The "Xiwang Line" has a history of about 25 years since the opening of the West Tunnel. Mr. Jiang, the person in charge of the Red Van Line, said frankly that the opening of the cross-sea section bears the brunt of the impact.

In the past, after the westward extension of the Hong Kong Island Line, the passenger volume has been greatly reduced. It is estimated that the passenger volume will be reduced by half at any time after the opening of the East Rail Transit section. If the government fails to provide assistance, it may be suspended within a year.


Zhang Hanhua, chairman of the Hong Kong Public Light Bus Owners and Drivers Association, said that every time a new railway is opened, the livelihood of light buses will be affected. They can only survive in areas lacking railway connections, or they can be transformed into MTR barge transportation. tool.

He said that the current price of the minibus has dropped "in a water-plug style". In 2013, it was about 7 million yuan, and recently it was only worth about 1.4 million yuan.


In the past, it was called "the fastest crossing the sea" and was hit hard by the development of railways

Mr. Jiang's family has been operating the non-specialized minibus business. He has been in the red van industry for about 40 years, and admits that he has witnessed the decline of the industry.

He said that the "Sai Mong Line" was established with the opening of the Western Tunnel in 1997. It traveled between Mong Kok and Sai Wan through the Western Tunnel. It was very popular back then and described the line as "the fastest crossing the sea".

However, with the expansion of the railway, the number of passengers gradually decreased. At the end of 2014, the west extension of the Hong Kong Island Line was opened to traffic, and the West Ring and Sai Ying Pun areas have been connected to the railway since then, and the "Sai Wang Line" has suffered a major setback.

Mr. Jiang said that the business feature of Red Van is that the driver must rent a car by himself, and the driver can receive the full fare after deducting the cost.

When the "Xiwang Line" was initially operated, there were about 20 minibuses on the whole line, but after the opening of the west extension of the Hong Kong Island Line, drivers could not survive and abandoned the line, and the number of vehicles has been reduced to 10 vehicles. Even my grandmother wouldn’t recognize it.” He went on to say that before 2019, only 8 minibuses remained operating on this line, and under the epidemic, the number dropped further to the current 5, making it difficult to recruit drivers.

▼Final preparations at the station of the East Rail Line crossing the sea▼


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Mr. Jiang: Would you like to ride in our car?

The terminus of the "West Mong Line" in Mong Kok is at the junction of Bute Street and Tung Choi Street, only 10 minutes away from East Rail Mong Kok East Station.

Mr. Kong said that half of the passengers on the minibus line in the past were people who transferred from the west of Hong Kong Island to the East Rail to go to the North District or the Mainland. When you go to Hong Kong and go to the sea, who will take our car?"

▼On May 10th, the first work day of the 9 trucks running on the East Rail Line▼


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The adult Octopus fare from MTR Sai Ying Pun Station to Mong Kok East is $12.50, while the full fare for the "Sai Mong Line" is $15.50.

Mr. Jiang pointed out that the current toll for minibuses traveling in the West Tunnel is 85 yuan, that is, at least six passengers can recover the cost of the toll, but the gas fee has not been taken into account.

He continued to point out that drivers have to wait for a certain number of passengers before driving to avoid losses, but passengers wait too long before they get off the bus, and passengers waiting at other stops may also transfer to other means of transport. Out, in disguise "open a turn, turn around and turn around".

If no one picks up, then naturally no one picks up, and if no one picks up, no one picks up, and the chain effect is continuous.

Mr. Jiang, the person in charge of Red Van's "Xiwang Line"

When asked if it is possible to switch to the CHT to save costs, Jiang Sheng said that the WHT has always been "quick and clean", while the CHT has congestion problems.

He criticized that the government policy favored the development of railways, and the minibus industry "follows the chopping block and becomes a mermaid", resulting in a vicious circle.

When there is a lack of passengers and drivers cannot survive, no one is willing to rent a car; then when the number of drivers decreases and the frequency of shifts becomes sparse, passengers will transfer to other means of transportation. effect".

In addition to the "Xiwang Line", Jiang Sheng also operates the "Xiangwang Line" between Mong Kok (Golden Rooster Plaza) and Aberdeen (Tung Shing Road).

Since Aberdeen is still not directly covered by railways, the closest station is Wong Chuk Hang Station. He estimates that there is still some living space, but he is also worried that the passenger flow will be reduced by 30 to 40%.

Mr. Jiang is worried that after the opening of the traffic, there will be drivers who will abandon the rental, and it will be difficult to operate at that time.

(Photo by O Jiale)

Mr. Jiang expects that the government can subsidize the tolls. Even if it is not fully exempted like franchised buses, he hopes to get some relief to reduce operating costs.

He is worried that after the East Rail Transit section opens to traffic, there will be more drivers who will abandon the lease, and it will be difficult to operate at that time.

The traffic flow of minibuses crossing the sea has dropped by two-thirds in 10 years

According to the data of the Transport Department, the number of minibuses crossing the harbour has greatly decreased in the past ten years. In 2011, there were a total of 2.09 million minibus trips in the three harbour-crossing tunnels. In 2021, the number of minibus trips dropped to 704,000, a drop of 66.3%.

Even excluding the impact of the epidemic, there were only 1.04 million trips in 2019, which has dropped by about half.

For example, when comparing 2019 with 2011, the minibus flows in Hung Hom and the WHC dropped by 49.8% and 59.1% respectively.

There are still more than a dozen late-night routes on the cross-sea minibus line, and there is still room for survival

Zhang Hanhua, chairman of the Hong Kong Public Light Bus Owners and Drivers Association, said that every time a new railway line opens, the livelihood of light buses will be affected.

In the past, after the west extension of the Hong Kong Island Line was opened to traffic, the Hong Van route between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan was suspended within a week.

Zhang said that there are about a dozen routes crossing the sea at present, some of which are late-night routes. Fortunately, not all of them have been affected, but on the whole, the public prefers to take the railway, and minibuses are mainly used in places not covered by railways. Regional survival, such as Tszyun Mountain, Shunli Village, etc.

Minibus prices drop 80% in 9 years

With the increasing competition of railways and the impact of the epidemic, Zhang Hanhua said that the price of the minibus has dropped sharply. In 2013, it was still worth about 7 million yuan. In 2015, it dropped to 5 million yuan. 1.4 million yuan, the price has dropped by 80% in less than ten years.

Zhang said frankly that he hoped to have bottomed out: "If it falls again, it will go bankrupt."

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-05-12

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