8
+THIS WILL BE ESSENTIAL TO SERVE THE MILLION OR SO PEOPLE
WHO WILL BE LIVING IN THE EASTERN NEW TERRITORIES IN THE LATE 80'S AND THE INTERCHANGE STATION AT KOWLOON TONG WILL PLAY A KEY ROLE IN INTEGRATING THE TWO RAILWAYS INTO ONE EFFECTIVE NETWORK, + HE SAID.
HE ALSO BELIEVED THAT A RAIL SYSTEM ALONG THE NORTH SHORE OF HONG KONG ISLAND AND THE LINKING INTO THE MTR AT CENTRAL WAS EQUALLY IMPERATIVE AND URGENT.
WHETHER THIS SHOULD TAKE THE FORM OF A SHORT ISLAND LINE OF THE MTR, RUNNING SOME EIGHT KILOMETRES FROM WESTERN MARKET TO TAIKOO SHING, OR A SO-CALLED LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEM, RUNNING 14 KILOMETRES FROM WHITTY STREET TO CHAI WAN, HAD STILL TO BE DECIDED, MR JONES SAID.
BUT HE WAS CONVINCED IN HIS OWN MIND THAT ONE OR THE OTHER RAIL SYSTEM WILL HAVE TO BE BUILT AND THE QUICKER THE BETTER.
ON BUSES, MR JONES SAID ONE CONDITION MUST BE MET BEFORE REALLY SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICES CAN TAKE PLACE, AND THIS CONCERNED ROAD CONGESTION.
THERE WAS NO DOUBT, HE SAID, THAT ROAD CONGESTION HAD CONSIDERABLY WORSENED IN MANY LOCATIONS SINCE 1977 AND THAT IT WAS CONTINUING TO GET WORSE AND SLOWING DOWN THE MOVEMENT OF BUSES AND MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO MEET SCHEDULES.
+THE RESULT IS THAT MORE BUSES ARE MAKING FEWER JOURNEYS. THIS MEANS THAT, TO SPEED UP THE FLOW OF BUSES AND THUS INCREASE THE IR CARRYING CAPACITY, CONSIDERATION WILL HAVE TO BE GIVEN TO THE ADOPTION OF MORE BUS PRIORITY MEASURES, INCLUDING BUS ONLY LANES, EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF WORSENING CONDITIONS FOR PRIVATE CARS AND TAXIS, HE SAID.
OTHERWISE, MR JONES POINTED OUT, WE WOULD BE IN DANGER OF A VICIOUS CIRCLE OF MORE BUSES, SLOWER JOURNEY TIMES, YET MORE BUSES, HIGHER FARES AND SO ON.
MR JONES SAID HE ACCEPTED THE PREDICTION THAT PRIVATE CARS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE,
HE POINTED OUT THAT IN 1979 THE NUMBER OF PRIVATE CARS REGISTERED INCREASED BY 20 000 AND IN RECENT MONTHS THEY HAVE BEEN GROWING BY AS MUCH AS 2 000 A MONTH.
+WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO TOLERATE THIS RATE OF INCREASE WHICH IS WAY AHEAD OF ANY REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF OUR ABILITY TO EXPAND THE ROAD NETWORK, HE SAID.
+CERTAINLY, NO AMOUNT OF ROAD BUILDING AND NO AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT MEASURES COULD ACCOMMODATE THIS RATE OF GROWTH FOR LONG WITHOUT CATASTROPHIC AND DEBILITATING TRAFFIC JAMS ALL DAY LONG.+
HE SAID THE AVERAGE GROWTH IN THE LENGTH OF OUR ROAD NETWORK WAS ABOUT TWO PER CENT A YEAR AND, EVEN TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ROAD WIDENING AND OTHER QUALITATIVE IMPROVEMENTS, IT COULD NOT BE MORE THAN THREE PER CENT,
/SO EVE
Page 10Page 11