COMMUNICATIONS
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to any place in Kowloon, but may only pick up passengers in Kowloon at special taxi stands for destinations in the New Ter- ritories. They may not ply for hire within the urban area of Kowloon. At the end of the year, there was a total of 3,649 licensed taxis in the Colony: 1,983 in Kowloon, 1,144 on Hong Kong Island and 522 in the New Territories.
Public omnibuses operate transport services excluded from the monopolies of the major bus companies. They include coaches for sight-seeing tours, those provided by hotels for their guests and those used for school-bus services. At the end of the year there were 254 public omnibuses licensed by the Commissioner for Trans- port. Some public cars operate under similar franchises and differ only in that they may seat a maximum of nine passengers, but most vehicles registered in this category are hired out for self-drive and do not require a franchise. At the end of the year there were 936 public cars licensed. No scale of fees is laid down for the hire of public cars or omnibuses.
FERRY SERVICES
The Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited operates a fleet of 68 diesel-engined ferries 14 of which are vehicle ferries. The company maintains 11 routes in the harbour between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, three of which are for vehicle ferries. These three consist of a combined passenger-vehicle link between the central district of Hong Kong Island and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon; a route for vehicles-only between North Point and Kowloon City, and a double-decker vehicle ferry service between the central district and Yau Ma Tei. Ferries to outlying districts call at Ma Wan, Castle Peak, Tung Chung, Sha Lo Wan and Tai O; Peng Chau, Silver Mine Bay, Chi Ma Wan and Cheung Chau; Tsing Yi Island and Tsuen Wan, and So Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan on Lamma Island. There is also a service from Tai Po Kau to Tap Mun in Tolo Harbour. During 1967, 158.5 million passengers and 4.5 million vehicles were carried, a decrease of 1.6 per cent and an increase of 4.9 per cent respectively over 1966. Vehicle ferry traffic, which had grown at the remarkable rate of 20 per cent a year since 1960, fell off in the middle of 1965 largely because of the decline in the building trade. The percentage increase for the years 1965-7 was 11.8.