200
TRANSPORT
Promotional activities were also held to attract additional passengers and to increase the awareness of the benefits of the stored-value tickets. In addition, public announcement and extensive poster campaigns helped to promote a spirit of courtesy among passengers travelling on the MTR, in particular, to allow passengers to alight first.
Kowloon-Canton Railway
During the year, the KCRC completed a modification programme to increase the train-carrying capacity of the existing carriages and the first of the 25 sets of newly-ordered three-car electric multiple units was put into service in July.
The number of passengers using the electrified Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) between the towns of Sha Tin, Tai Po and Fanling and the urban area, as well as those travelling to and from China via Lo Wu increased significantly during the year. An average of 368 700 passengers was carried each day by the railway, 194 per cent above the 190 500 it carried four years ago before electrification and double tracking.
There were 466-trains running each day between 5.52 a.m. and 0.12 a.m. with four through trains to China operating each day between Kowloon and Canton. In operation were 42 feeder routes to KCR stations provided either by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company or minibus operators. The construction of the first phase of the North-west Railway between Tuen Mun and Yuen Long was in full swing during the year. It is expected to go into service in August 1988. In addition, three regional extensions comprising five kilometres of double track and 10 stops have been approved, and the construction of these is expected to be completed by the end of 1991. In September, the KCRC introduced its first bus service in the North-west Transit Service Area to replace one KMB internal bus route. It is-intended that when the North-west Railway goes into service, all the internal bus services within the North-west Transit Service Area will be operated by the KCRC to enhance integration of the railway and bus services.
Early in the year, the KCRC completed investigations on the feasibility of an extension of the railway to provide a rail link between the north-west New Territories and the urban area. The new Lo Wu station was commissioned in January, replacing the temporary station. A new Tai Wo station, serving Tai Po, is now under construction and will be commissioned in late 1988.
Buses
The standard and level of bus services continued to improve through more effective planning and monitoring. With the new town development, the New Territories enjoyed the largest expansion of bus services. The cross harbour bus service network also had a moderate expansion during the year when the cross harbour section of the MTR had reached its capacity in the peak period.
There are three franchised bus companies in Hong Kong, and they carry four million passengers per day on a total of 365 regular routes.
The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) operated 217 bus routes in Kowloon and the New Territories in addition to 23 cross-harbour routes jointly operated with the China Motor Bus Company Limited. The company also operated three cross- harbour services of its own, including two air-conditioned coach services to and from the airport. At the end of 1987 the company had a fleet of 2 900 vehicles, comprising 2 798 double-deckers, 64 single-deckers and 38 coaches.
Most of the expansion of bus services operated by KMB took place in the new towns in the New Territories, including two new express services with one inter-new-town service