PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS
During 1950 and 1951, the company replaced its former wooden cars with new cars of improved design and all-metal construction, lighter and stronger than the old ones, and capable of carrying a greater number of passengers.
For the fifth year in succession the service carried more than one and a half million passengers and traffic was once again heavier than in the previous year.
Bus Services
Bus services on the Island are maintained by the China Motor Bus Co., Ltd., operating a fleet of 188 vehicles, 90% of which are heavy type oil engine public service vehicles of United Kingdom manufacture. Many of the roads over which the buses run are steep and winding and necessitate the use of short wheel base chassis of low carrying capacity, but at the end of the year an under floor engine bus built to maximum overall dimensions of 30' by 8' with accommodation for 57 passengers was introduced for use on the lower levels.
Two new services were started during the year--one between Tonnochy Road Ferry Pier and Tai Hang Road and the other, an experimental feeder service, between Shaukiwan bus terminus and the resettlement area of Chai Wan. The total distance run during 1954 exceeded 7.4 million miles and the number of passengers carried, excluding monthly ticket holders, was 47.7 millions.
During 1954 the Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) which operates in Kowloon and New Territories had 370 buses (205 single-deckers and 165 double-deckers) in service. They carried 172 million passengers as
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