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PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
A new route was introduced between North Point and Happy Valley, and two additional services were operated to Repulse Bay and South Bay on Sundays and holidays during the summer months. Two feeder services on the Peak were withdrawn due to lack of support. The company operates a welfare centre and provides free medical treatment for its staff. Low-cost housing is also provided for some 250 employees and their families, and additional housing will shortly become available at a new depot which is nearing completion at North Point.
Bus services in Kowloon and the New Territories are maintained by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Ltd. At the end of the year the company was operating 59 routes (34 in Kowloon, 24 in the New Territories and one on Lantau Island). This was an increase of four routes over the previous year. Improvements in frequencies, time tables and itineraries were made on 29 routes during the year. The company's fleet at the end of the year totalled 777 vehicles comprising 374 single-deck buses, 395 double-deck buses and eight tour coaches. Thirty AEC 124-passenger double- deck buses arrived in the Colony for completion in the company's workshop and in August 1962 an order was placed for 100 Albion single-deck buses. During 1962 482,500,000 passengers were carried compared with 436,500,000 in 1961. The total distance covered by the company's buses in 1962 was 38,750,000 miles compared with 35 million miles in 1961.
Tramways. An electric tramway service is operated on Hong Kong Island by Hong Kong Tramways Ltd. The track, the gauge of which is 34 feet, is about 191 miles in length if single tracks are measured. It goes from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan, with a branch line round the race course in Happy Valley. All routes pass through the city of Victoria. The tramcars are four- wheeled double-deckers, with single staircases, and are designed for single-ended working, the termini having turning circles. The operating current is 500 volts direct.
The average daily service of cars run in 1962 was 146. This gave a car every two minutes in each direction on all routes. Through the city area, which is in the centre of the system, the minimum frequency of service was a car every 34 seconds in each direction. The number of passengers carried during the year was 189 million, and the total distance run was 7,700,000 miles.