It is
question of trying to cook up the books and hide the
congestion element and try to sell it to the public and
deceive them. This is not its stand.
perfectly honest and open in this matter and this is
precisely why it wants to go open on this matter.
15
MR. CHEONG: Sir, I would be obliged if the Secretary can
enlighten me, who may not be a good mathematician.
He
said that the designed capacity is 75,000 and
that the current loading is 81,000 to 82,000,
saying in the same breath that there is an overloading
of 40 per cent. But if you consider the designed capacity
as 75,000 andjmimus 82,000, I cannot for the life of me
then
work it out
to be 40 per cent.
Secondly,
Sir, ne said while train safety was not in any
way at risk, overcrowding has reached such an intolerable
stage that passenger safety could be compromised. I commend
the
thinking about this but has it also
MTRC
for
considered that by diverting traffic to other modes of
transport it would probably add tremendously to the burden
of
the current road system and other modes of transport
at peak hours
this might
and
have
an
adverse impact on the overall productivity of Hong Kong?
SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT:
Sir, I can clarify the first
point first. The 40 per cent increase refers to the