COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
Contract Buses
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In addition to these services, a number of companies operate coaches for sight- seeing tours, school bus services, and factory bus services. A number of factories and schools operate their own private omnibuses and private light buses.
Ferry Services
The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Ltd has a fleet of 60 diesel-engined vessels, 14 of which are vehicular vessels. The company operates nine routes in the harbour between Hong Kong and Kowloon, as well as services to the New Territories and outlying islands.
With the opening of the cross-harbour tunnel, there was a considerable reduction in the number of vehicles, particularly private cars, using the vehicular ferries. As the tunnel now provides a link between the central parts of the urban area, the ferry company proposes to develop new vehicular ferry services to the east and west of the existing routes: one between North Point and the industrial area of Kwun Tong, and the other between Jubilee Street and Tai Kok Tsui on the western side of the Kowloon peninsula.
The company introduced a new weekday passenger service between Kwun Tong and Central District in May 1972. This direct link proved popular as a means of avoid- ing land traffic congestion. It also held its own in competition with the new cross- harbour bus services.
The company now has four dual-purpose triple deck ferries with air-conditioned top decks. Besides serving the new Kwun Tong route, these ferries are used on harbour cruises in the evenings, operating as floating restaurants and on excursion trips to outlying islands at weekends.
The Star Ferry Company Ltd runs a passenger ferry service across the harbour between Victoria City on Hong Kong Island and Tsim Sha Tsui on the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula. The company uses 10 vessels on this service with a total passenger-carrying capacity of 5,600. Supplementary services are operated during the daily rush-hour traffic and to relieve congestion at the ferry concourses. A total of 58.1 million passengers were carried during 1972.
Administration
The Transport Advisory Committee, formed in 1965, has a membership of four official members and six unofficial members, with one of the latter as its chairman. It advises the Governor on all aspects of transport and traffic policy, with the excep- tion of external sea and air communications.
The Transport Department provides a secretariat for the Transport Advisory Committee and carries out a wide range of executive functions including vehicle licensing, driving tests and vehicle inspection, As the statutory authority, the Commis- sioner for Transport is also responsible for planning and regulating public transport services and co-ordinating action between other departments in the transport field.