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TRANSPORT
Aviation Department at Hong Kong International Airport and by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation at railway stations. Surveys conducted in late 1986 showed that there were about 50 000 parking spaces in multi-storey, housing estate and open-air carparks owned and operated by the private sector throughout the territory. On-street parking is usually metered and is only provided at locations where traffic conditions permit. By the end of the year, there were some 14 300 metered spaces throughout the territory, most of which operate between 8 a.m. and midnight from Monday to Saturday. In Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Western and Tsim Sha Tsui districts and in the carparks of the Hong Kong International Airport and the Peak where parking demand is high, meter operation has been extended to include Sundays and public holidays. Towards the end of the year, metered parking charges were doubled from $1 and 50 cents to $2 and $1 for each half hour.
Licensing
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The number of new private cars registered rose from 13 900 in 1986 to 19 870 in 1987, an increase of 43 per cent. Despite the introduction of the compulsory private car inspection scheme since January 1986 for six-year old cars, the total number of cars licensed increased from 139 321 in December 1986 to 145 612 in December 1987, a growth of 4.52 per cent.
There was an increase in the number of goods vehicles - from 86 633 in December 1986 to 102 082 in December 1987.
At the end of 1987, the total number of licensed vehicles in all classes was 289 478, an increase of 8.5 per cent over the previous year.
The number of new learner drivers rose from 4 000 per month in 1986 to 5 800 per month in 1987, representing a 45 per cent increase.
Under the Driving-offence Points System implemented in August 1984, 2 098 driving licence holders were disqualified after accruing 15 or more points for committing offences scheduled under the Road Traffic (Driving-Offence Points) Ordinance.
Vehicle Examination
The Transport Department operates four vehicle examination centres at Kowloon Bay, To Kwa Wan, Sheung Kwai Chung and So Kon Po, carrying out annual re-licensing inspections of all public service vehicles, older goods vehicles and vehicles licensed to carry dangerous goods. Transport Department vehicle examiners were also based at three regional police vehicle detention pounds to inspect vehicles which were involved in accidents or suspected to be defective. Airport vehicles were inspected at the airport, while franchised buses were examined at the company depots.
Annual re-licensing inspection was extended to all private light buses from January 2, 1987. From June 1, goods vehicles, special purpose vehicles and trailers manufactured before 1978 required compulsory inspection before relicensing.
From April, all private cars manufactured before 1981 were required to be examined at one of the 17 designated car testing centres. A total of 52 079 cars were examined during the year under the scheme, compared with 27 737 in 1986.
Certificate of Fitness and Certificate of Roadworthiness inspections continued to be carried out on franchised buses and non-franchised buses. These, together with spot check inspections, were effective in improving the overall standards of bus maintenance. Prosecu- tion in respect of serious defects found during unscheduled inspections remained at a low level.
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