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COMMUNICATIONS
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roughly one mile. For journeys exceeding this distance within the urban area, the fare is usually 20 cents. There is a provision for school children's and other concessionary fares.
On the island, Hongkong Tramways Limited operate an electric tramway service over 19 miles of track running between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with a branch line round the racecourse in Happy Valley. All routes pass through the city of Victoria. The tramcars are three-and-a-half-foot gauge, 500 volts DC, four- wheeled double-deckers. The total fleet is 162 tramcars and 21 single-deck trailers and the normal daily service operated by the Company in 1967 was 156 tramcars and 21 trailers at peak periods. This gave a car in each direction every two minutes on all routes. Through the city area the minimum frequency was a car every 30 seconds in each direction. The number of passengers carried was 154.1 million, a decrease of 27.5 million or 15.1 per cent compared with the 1966 figure. Fares are charged at a flat rate for any distance over any route and are 20 cents first class and 10 cents third class. The maximum length of a route is 63 miles. The company issues monthly and concessionary tickets.
The Peak Tramways Company Limited runs a funicular railway service up the Peak. The present haulage system has been in use since 1925 and cars are drawn along the track by nearly two miles of steel cable. During the year, two million passengers were carried. The tramway climbs Victoria Peak to an altitude of 1,305 feet above sea level and the steepest part of the track has a gradient of one in two. It is reputed to be the steepest funicular railway in the world using a steel wire rope as its sole means of haulage.
Taxis are licensed for specific use on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon or the New Territories, and conditions and fares vary with each area. The government continued to open the way for new companies to enter the taxi business and, in accordance with this policy, 1,000 new urban taxi licences (805 for Kowloon and 195 for Hong Kong Island) were put out to public tender, in two batches of 500, in April and September. On Hong Kong Island fares are $1.50 for the first mile and 20 cents for every fifth of a mile, or 25 cents for every subsequent quarter of a mile. In Kowloon the fare is $1 for the first mile and 20 cents for every subsequent quarter mile. Taxis licensed for the New Territories may carry passengers