154
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Work began on the construction of the Company's new headquarters and depôt at To Kwa Wan, and a large piece of property at Laichikok was acquired for another depôt to house the growing number of buses.
Ferries
The "Star" Ferry Company, Ltd. operates a passenger ferry service across the narrowest part of the harbour, a distance of approximately one mile, from a point in the centre of Victoria to Tsimshatsui at the southern extremity of the Kowloon Peninsula. Seven vessels are in service and operate daily for 19 hours. A three-minute service, taking eight minutes to cross, is maintained during the day, and a regular service until well past midnight. Approximately 35 million passengers were carried in 133,000 crossings during the year, the average daily load being 96,000 persons.
The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Ltd. operates 5 cross-harbour ferry services between various points on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. One of these services is the Colony's sole vehicular ferry, giving a connexion from Jubilee Street, Hong Kong, to Jordan Road, Kowloon. In addition, the Company maintains outlying district services which link Hong Kong with the more important islands of the New Territories.
During 1955 the total number of passengers and vehicles carried on the cross-harbour ferry services once again broke all previous records. 77,250,000 passengers and 1,172,000 vehicles were carried during the year, an increase of 2,400,000 passengers and 44,500 vehicles over the previous year.
The service from Jordan Road to Tonnochy Road, Wantsai, was again the busiest route, carrying over 18,600,000 passengers during the year, an increase of more than one million passengers over the 1954 figure. Further- more, with the completion of the new Sookunpo Sports Stadium, capable of holding 28,500 spectators, larger crowds are attracted on football days to travel across from Kowloon direct to Wantsai, the Tonnochy Road pier being not far from the Stadium.
A second Wantsai service, to Kowloon City, was scheduled to begin operations during the year, but was postponed pending the arrival of lifts ordered from the United