TRANSPORT
HYF owned 74 licensed vessels and operated 24 ferry routes, including passenger and vehicular services across the harbour, hoverferry services to the northwestern New Territories, services to the outlying islands and chartered services. In 1994, the company carried 107 885 passengers and 2 872 vehicles daily. Elderly passengers aged 65 or above can enjoy concessionary fares, set at the same level as children's fares, on all ferry services except the deluxe class.
A further 20 other ferry services were operated by eight licensed operators, including the service to Discovery Bay on Lantau. These were supplemented by kaitos, or local village ferry services, which were licensed to serve remote coastal settlements. At the end of the year, 88 kaitos were in operation.
Road Passenger Transport
Road passenger transport accounted for two-thirds of all public transport journeys. Of the public transport journeys made by road, over half were on franchised buses, and the remainder on green minibuses, public light buses, taxis and non-franchised buses.
Franchised Buses
The standard and capacity of franchised bus services continued to improve through effective planning and co-ordination. There are four franchised bus companies, which together carried 3.4 million passengers daily on a network of 491 routes.
The largest operator is the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB), which ran 302 bus routes in Kowloon and the New Territories; 38 cross-harbour routes jointly with the China Motor Bus Company (CMB); four cross-harbour routes with Citybus Limited and six cross-harbour routes of its own. As a continuing effort to improve service quality, KMB has introduced 19 air-conditioned bus routes. KMB also operates 'Airbus' services to and from the airport, comprising three routes to Hong Kong Island and two within Kowloon.
The KMB fleet at the end of the year comprised 3 369 registered vehicles, with 2 619 double-decker conventional buses, and 441 and 309 air-conditioned double and single- decker buses, respectively. Each can seat between 20 and 164 passengers. In 1994, KMB made 977 million passenger trips and covered 255 million kilometres, compared with 966 million passenger trips and 243 million kilometres in 1993. KMB's current franchise extends until August 31, 1997. Fares range from $1 to $28 for non air-conditioned services, and from $2.20 to $30 for air-conditioned services.
To relieve peak-hour congestion on the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) along the Nathan Road Corridor, a total of 28 air-conditioned bus routes were operated during the year from the New Territories and North Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and South Kowloon. These services helped keep the MTR passenger flows along Nathan Road at acceptable and safe levels.
Elderly passengers aged 65 and over are entitled to concessionary fares on every KMB route, except the Airbus services.
Bus services on Hong Kong Island are provided by two operators. The China Motor Bus Company (CMB) operates 93 routes on the island and, jointly with KMB, 38 cross-harbour routes. At the end of 1994, CMB's fleet comprised 930 double-deckers and 31 single- deckers, of which 104 double-deckers and 30 single-deckers were air-conditioned. They made 197 million passenger trips and travelled 44 million kilometres during the year,
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