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Following is a speech (English translation) by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, to move the motion on extension of the effective period of the current limitation on the fleet size of public light buses in Legislative Council today (March 30):
President,
Since 1976, the total number of vehicles which may be registered as public light buses ("PLBs") has been limited to 4,350. The limitation was promulgated by the Executive Council through the Public Light Buses (Limitation on Number) Notice. The effective period of the Notice has been extended from time to time through resolutions passed by the Legislative Council, and was last extended in May 2006 for five years up to June 20, 2011.
In view of the limited road space and community concerns about the environmental impact created by road-based vehicles, the Administration accords priority to develop mass carriers viz. railways and franchised buses, with other transport modes performing a supplementary role. Under the public transport system, PLBs' function is to support mass carriers, mainly by providing feeder services to and from railway stations and public transport interchanges, as well as serving areas where it is not operationally feasible or financially viable for the mass carriers to provide service.
Since 2006, the daily patronage of PLB services has remained at around 1.8 million passenger trips, representing about 16% of the total public transport market, consistent with their supplementary role. With the commissioning of new railways in the coming decade, it is expected that the carrying capacity of the overall public transport system will increase significantly. As it is rather unlikely that the total patronage would increase substantially, any change in the number of PLBs at this stage will upset the balance of the role played by other transport modes causing re-distribution of the market share. It will likely result in potential conflicts and unhealthy competition among different public transport modes.
In January 2011, the Transport Department ("TD") consulted the PLB trade on whether the current fleet size of PLBs should be maintained. Among the 88 written submissions received by TD, almost all (i.e. about 97%) of them indicated support for maintaining the current fleet size of PLBs at 4,350. Besides, operators of other public transport modes (including franchised buses, non-franchised buses and taxis) expect the Government to maintain the current limitation on the number of PLBs.
We submitted a paper on this subject to the Legislative Council Panel on Transport in February 2011. At the meeting of the Panel held on February 25, 2011, Members did not object to the proposed extension of the effective period of the current limitation on the size of PLB fleet for five years.
In the light of the above considerations, we consider it appropriate to extend the existing limitation on the total number of PLBs at 4,350 for a period of five years up to June 20, 2016. This will also provide certainty for the PLB trade to continue playing its role in the public transport market effectively.
President, I beg to move the motion to extend the effective period of the limitation on the size of PLB fleet for five years until June 20, 2016.
Ends/Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:25
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