TRANSPORT
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At the end of the year, there were 25 residential coach routes in operation – five on Hong Kong Island and 20 in the New Territories. Some 7.67 million passengers were carried in 1988, representing a 19.5 per cent increase over the previous year.
Trams
The electric tramway on the north shore of Hong Kong Island dates from 1904. The current system comprises over 13 kilometres of double track between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan and nearly three kilometres of single track around Happy Valley, which together support six overlapping services. The 163 trams comprise the only all-double-deck fleet in the world. At the end of the year, over 40 per cent of the fleet had either been refurbished or replaced. Tramway patronage continued to rise, averaging 360 000 passengers daily during 1988.
The Peak Tramways Company Limited celebrated its centenary in 1988. It operates the funicular railway between Garden Road in Central and Victoria Gap, 397 metres above sea level. There are four intermediate stops, and the line is inclined throughout with gradients as steep as one-in-two. The service is predominantly used by sightseers, but it also serves Peak district commuters. In 1988 an average of 7 647 passengers were carried daily.
During the year the company placed a contract to modernise completely the funicular railway. This is expected to be completed by August 1989.
Aerial Ropeway
An aerial ropeway operates at Ocean Park in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island, carrying visitors between the park's lowland and headland sites, employing 246 six-seat cabins with a total capacity of 1 476 passengers. During the year the ropeway carried an average of 3 380 passengers a day.
Ferries
Despite the introduction of the cross-harbour tunnel bus services and the Mass Transit Railway, waterborne transport is still significant for cross-harbour movement and remains essential to commuters and recreational traffic to and from the outlying islands. The majority of ferry travel is catered for by two franchised company operators - the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited (HYF) and the 'Star' Ferry Company Limited.
The Star Ferry operated 12 vessels across the harbour from Edinburgh Place and Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island to Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom in Kowloon. During the year the company carried 42 million passengers on its three routes. A new route the Tsim Sha Tsui to Wan Chai service, started in April 1988.
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HYF operated 26 ferry services, including 12 cross-harbour vehicular and/or passenger services, eight outlying district services four excursion routes, and two vehicular charter services to Lantau. The company operated 76 vessels, ranging from vehicular ferries and high capacity triple-deck passenger vessels to high-speed hovercraft. In 1988 HYF carried 65 million passengers and 5.5 million vehicles, compared with 75 million and 4.8 million respectively in 1987. During the year, HYF was permitted to operate a new franchised service between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui East (which was already operating on a trial basis) and weekend excursion services from Kowloon Point to Mui Wo and Cheung Chau. In addition, nine minor ferry services were operated to or between outlying islands by six licensed operators. These were supplemented by 'kaitos', or small boat services, which cater for local demand, mainly in remote rural areas. During the year 129 ‘kaitos' were deployed by 105 operators. Both types of services are controlled by licences issued by the Transport Department under the Ferry Services Ordinance.