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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
Trams Hongkong Tramways Limited operates a tram service on five routes along the urban north shore of Hong Kong Island. There are 162 double-deck cars with 22 trailers operating the 30-kilometre double-track system between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town and a single loop around Happy Valley. A flat fare of 30 cents is charged and all cars are one-man operated with passengers paying into a fare box on exit. The average daily passenger volume is 0.37 million - 2,274 a car and the highest utilisation of any road passenger transport service in Hong Kong.
The Peak Tramways Company Limited operates a funicular tram service stopping at five intermediate stations between Garden Road and Victoria Peak, 397 metres above sea level. It is considered to be the second steepest funicular railway in the world, using steel wire ropes as its sole means of haulage with the steepest gradient being one in two. The service began in 1888 and the two service cars (a third is used as a main- tenance spare) carry 5,319 passengers a day. The full distance fare is $1.50 with $1 charged for part-distance journeys.
Aerial Ropeways
A new mode of transport for Hong Kong was inaugurated on January 10, 1977, with the opening by the Governor of Ocean Park at Aberdeen, which contains the world's largest capacity passenger-carrying aerial ropeway.
During the preceding months, staff from the Electrical and Mechanical Office of the Public Works Department worked to provide the details for the enactment of the Aerial Ropeway (Safety) Ordinance and subsidiary legislation. They also ensured that the installation had been satisfactorily carried out and tested, and that the Ocean Park staff were competent to operate this new mode of transport.
The staff of the Electrical and Mechanical Office have continued to carry out periodic inspections and to check the competence of new staff at Ocean Park, and also to ensure that the annual survey and overhaul of the ropeway is of the necessarily high standard for the public's continued safety.
During the first six months of operation, a total of 2,292,256 people were carried by the ropeway.
Ferries
The Star Ferry Company Limited operates two passenger ferry services linking Central district on Hong Kong Island with Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom in Kowloon. The 10 vessels provide frequent sailings and carry 139,620 passengers a day. Fares charged on the seven-minute crossing to Tsim Sha Tsui are 30 cents (upper deck) and 20 cents (lower deck). A flat fare of 50 cents is charged on the Hung Hom crossing.
The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited provides a comprehensive network of ferry services across the harbour and linking Hong Kong Island with the outlying districts and islands. Three cross-harbour vehicular ferry services carry 9,972 vehicles a day at charges ranging from $1 (motor cycle), $3 (motor car) to $9 (heavy goods vehicle). There are 14 cross-harbour passenger services, all but three of which charge a 40-cent fare for both decks. The remaining routes upon which deluxe class vessels are operated charge 50 cents and $1 according to the type of accommodation. There are 13 routes operating daily to and within the New Territories, and providing