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MONDAY, JUNE 25, 1979
+AND YET IT IS THE WAY WE FACE UP TO OUR PROBLEMS AND WHAT WE ACHIEVE DESPITE THEM, THAT GIVES HONG KONG AND ITS PEOPLE A SPECIAL MEANING IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD.
+AND I BELIEVE, THAT IF WE LOOK FOR AN EASY WAY OUT INSTEAD OF DETERMINING TO DO THINGS OUR OWN WAY AND, BASICALLY, TO SOLVE OUR OWN PROBLEMS WE MAY LOSE OUR SELF-RESPECT AND THE RESPECT IN WHICH WE ARE HELD IN MANY COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, HE ADDED.
OVER 1,250 MILLION TRAVELLED BY
PUBLIC TRANSPORT LAST YEAR
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MORE THAN 1,253 MILLION PEOPLE TRAVELLED BY FRANCHISED PUBLIC TRANSPORT LAST YEAR, AN INCREASE OF 68.8 MILLION AS COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S TOTAL.
THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO TRAVELLED BY KOWLOON BUSES ROSE FROM 810.9 MILLION TO 860.4 MILLION, AND BY HONG KONG BUSES FROM 239.6 MILLION TO 254.6 MILLION.
A SPOKESMAN FOR THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT TODAY (MONDAY) ATTRIBUTED THE INCREASES TO IMPROVED SERVICES AND LARGER CAPACITY OF THE BUS FLEETS.
+THE NEW, LARGER CAPACITY VEHICLES ENABLED THE TWO BUS COMPANIES TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS FROM A DAILY AVERAGE OF 2.9 MILLION TO OVER 3 MILLION, HE SAID.
+ALTHOUGH BOTH COMPANIES HAVE LARGER OPERATING FLEETS, IT IS BECOMING EVIDENT THAT UNTIL THE INITIAL SYSTEM OF THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY COMES INTO FULL OPERATION IN EARLY 1980, TRAFFIC CONGESTION ON ROADS WILL MAKE IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR OTHER PUBLIC TRANSPORT UNDERTAKINGS TO COPE WITH THE EVER INCREASING DEMAND.+
THE SPOKESMAN NOTED THAT 200 ADDITIONAL VEHICLES WHICH ARE NOW BEING ACQUIRED WILL EVENTUALLY BRING THE COMBINED FLEET TO 2,620 VEHICLES.
AT THE SAME TIME, COMMUTERS CARRIED BY THE HONG KONG TRAMWAYS ALSO RECORDED AN INCREASE FROM 134.6 MILLION TO 138.6 MILLION.
THE COMPANY'S 162 DOUBLE-DECK TRAMCARS AND 22 SINGLE-DECK TRAILERS CARRIED ABOUT 380,000 PASSENGERS PER DAY.
ON PUBLIC LIGHT BUSES, THE SPOKESMAN SAID THE AVERAGE DAILY NUMBER OF PASSENGERS DROPPED FROM 1.6 MILLION TO 1.4 MILLION.
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