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Investigations would indicate that firms requiring motor transport to transact their business on both sides of the harbour, are now obliged to consider the question of trans- port on each side independently; and to provide satisfactory transport at rush periods, it is necessary to provide more lorries than the business necessitates. A vehicular ferry would provide facilities for lorries of the same firm working in co-operation, thus vehi- cles in Kowloon could be despatched to Hong Kong to assist in pressure of work and vice versa.
Building Contractors are of the opinion that, whilst a vehicular ferry would provide better facilities for the transport of consignments of cement during inclement weather and provide for a more intensive use of their motor lorries, for transport generally, the installation would not be as economical as present methods, where the cross harbour transport of building materials is effected by junks or lighters which come alongside the Praya Roadway, the materials being transported to destination by coolies and/or lorries. The discharge of building materials on the roadway however causes obstruction to traffic and is undesirable. The construction of piers to provide for the satisfactory handling of building and other materials brought from Kowloon would probably result in transport by the use of these facilities costing as much as by a vehicular ferry.
Part of the fire fighting appliances of the Colony are located in Hong Kong, the re- mainder in Kowloon. A vehicular ferry would provide facilities for utilizing almost the full resources of the fire brigade on either side of the Harbour.
A vehicular ferry would facilitate the transport of prisoners and hospital cases between the Island and mainland. An average of about 50 stretcher cases per month are transported across the harbour. The present method of handling cross harbour patients is very unsatisfactory and would be eliminated by a vehicular ferry. It is estimated that the Fire Brigade, Police and Motor Ambulances between them would do at least six to a dozen trips each way daily.
The proposed ferry installation would be of some service to the Post Office and the Imports and Exports Department.
There are about 1,800 private and public motor cars and cycles in the Colony. The general opinion appears to be that these vehicles would be transported across the har- bour in much greater numbers if improved facilities were provided at a passage rate attractive to the owners of the vehicles.
The investigations which have been made would indicate that better facilities for cross harbour transport are very desirable; also that the number of vehicles crossing by ferry would probably not exceed a daily average of 150, and might be considerably less than this figure if the fare was much in excess of $1.00 per trip. It would therefore appear that at the present time, a vehicular ferry would be unable to earn sufficient return to justify the cost of installation.
Each vehicular ferry provides accommodation for 20 five-seater cars. This is prob- ably in excess of the requirements of a frequent service for a number of years. Some economy might be effected in capital outlay by the construction of smaller boats at a reduced expenditure, sav ferry boats to carry 12 motor cars and/or lorries at a cost of about $180,000 each. Even by the application of such small economies, it would appear that this service would have to look to the passenger trade for income to ensure financial success. The V.R.C. Site is not conveniently situated to attract a large passenger trade. It is possible, therefore that a vehicular ferry between the V.R.C. and Jordan Road would not have sufficient support from passenger 'receipts.
The expense of installing a service between Jordan Road and V.R.C. costs practi- cally the same as between Jordan Road and Jubilee Street. Jubilee Street is in a more congested district than the V.R.C., however. with the additional space made available by the proposed reclamation, it is anticipated that there would be no difficulty in satisfac- torily regulating traffic at Jubilee Street in accordance with the arrows shown on plan 'D'. The berth at Jordan Road would be a convenient terminus for the Yaumati Ferry. It would therefore appear that the vehicular ferry service might replace the existing service between Jubilee Street and Yaumati and thus undertake the transport of the