COMMUNICATIONS
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are equipped with power-operated doors. During the year 612.3 million passengers were carried and 40.1 million miles were covered by the company's buses. At the end of 1968 a total of 65 routes (42 in Kowloon and 23 in the New Territories) were operating. Towards the end of the year, negotiations were started between the company and Government on the need to revise the financial terms of the franchise in the light of the company's plan to increase its carrying capacity by 50 per cent over the next two or three years by the purchase of 465 new buses.
Kowloon Motor Bus Company, which was the hardest hit of all the transport undertakings by the 1967 disturbances, was operat- ing only 75 per cent of its normal services by the end of that year, but by a complete reorganization of its services, the capacity offered to the travelling public at the end of 1968 was greater than the pre-disturbance capacity.
Bus services on Hong Kong Island are run by the China Motor Bus Company Limited which has 483 vehicles, made up of 365 single-deck and 118 double-deck buses. The total passenger-carrying capacity at the end of the year was 30,165. The company operates a total of 30 routes and two special services on race days. In 1968 the buses carried 201.6 million passengers and covered 18.7 million miles. As a result of the 1967 disturbances, the company was operat- ing 77 per cent of normal services at the end of that year. Delivery of new vehicles during 1968 enabled the company to expand its services so that by the end of 1968 the capacity offered was greater than that offered by the end of 1967.
With a few exceptions both bus companies charge two fares within the urban areas. The lower fare of 10 cents is for a stage of 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 22 single-deck trailers, and the normal daily service operated by the