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COMMUNICATIONS
360 single-deck buses. On order at the end of 1970 were 38 single- deck and 230 double-deck buses which will be added to the fleet during 1971. The fleet's total passenger-carrying capacity at the end of the year was 89,798. During the year 568.0 million passengers were carried and 40.4 million miles were covered by the company's buses. At the end of 1970 a total of 70 routes (55 in Kowloon and 15 in the New Territories) were operating.
Bus services on Hong Kong Island are operated by the China Motor Bus Company Limited which has 499 vehicles, made up of 340 single-deck and 159 double-deck buses. The total passenger carrying capacity at the end of the year was 34,853, an increase of 11.3 per cent over 1969. The Company operates a total of 29 routes and two special services on race days. In 1970 the buses carried 185.8 million passengers and covered 17.2 million miles.
Route No. 8-A was extended from Wan Tsui Road terminal to San Ha Street from May 22, and double-deckers have been introduced for Repulse Bay and Shek O routes during the swimming season.
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.
As from September 1, 1969 new categories of licensed vehicles known as public and private light buses were introduced. By the end of the year 3,784 public light buses and 1,368 private light buses were registered. Public light buses (minibuses) plying for hire are free to set their own routes and fares but there are certain areas or stretches of congested roads where they are not allowed to operate or where they are forbidden to set down or pick up passengers. Private light buses are not allowed to carry fare-paying passengers unless the buses are owned and operated by schools or other educational establishments.
Taxis are licensed for specific use on Hong Kong Island, or in Kowloon and fares vary with each area. On Hong Kong Island