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Tuesday, July 3, 1973
"Passengers don't cease to use this form of transport solely because
the PLBs stop in a side street rather than on a rain road," Mr. Wilson stressed.
He emphasised that apart from two minor exceptions, no new public
light bus licences had been issued for years. The two exceptions were 10
licences in 1972 for the Peak maxicab service and 100 or so licences early
this year as a result of legal action dating from 1969.
HA
On the question of controlling PLB fares, the Commissioner said, the
remedy surely lay in the hands of some PLB operators; "they should stop
profiteering".
It was a strange state of affairs, he said, that some operators
should criticise the Transport Department for failing to arrange for legislation
to stop PLB operators from charging what they like.
He pointed out that two-way radios for public light buses were
undesirable, even if the necessary wave lengths were available. A PLB is
not licensed to ply for hire like a taxi or public car on a call basis by
telephone or radio.
Mr. Wilson said the Transport Department arranges periodical meetings
with representatives of PLB associations to discuss matters of mutual interest
and of resolving differences. The last one was held only a couple of
weeks ago.
However, he added, there was no point in having these meetings if
some PLB operators proposed to comment without bothering to check facts.
"The trouble seems to be confined to only one or two of the 12
associations of PLB operators, The remainder very reasonably prefer to talk
over matters," Mr. Wilson said.
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