FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1981.
NEED TO RESTRAIN VEHICLE GROWTH STRESSED
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THERE IS A NEED TO RESTRAIN THE GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF MOTOR VEHICLES, PARTICULARLY PRIVATE CARS, THE ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR TRANSPORT, MR GARY MULLOY, SAID TODAY.
ADDRESSING THE ANNUAL SPEECH DAY OF TSUNG TS IN COLLEGE HELD AT THE CITY HALL THEATRE, MR MULLOY SAID THAT NEW ROAD CONSTRUCTION COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH INCREASES OF THE ORDER EXPERIENCED OVER THE LAST TWO OR THREE YEARS.
IN 1980, MORE THAN 38 000 NEW VEHICLES WERE REGISTERED AND IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR ANOTHER 25 000 WERE REGISTERED, GIVING A GRAND TOTAL OF NEARLY 300 000 LICENSED VEHICLES, OF WHICH NEARLY 200 000 WERE PRIVATE CARS,
+BUT MERELY TO RESTRAIN IS NEGATIVE APPROACH,+ MR MULLOY SAID. +WHILE IT MAY SLOW DOWN THE INCREASE IN CONGESTION, IT WOULD DO LITTLE TO HELP THE MAN WHO HAS TO TRAVEL.+
+SO IMPROVEMENTS IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT HAVE A VERY HIGH PRIORITY. + HE SAID THE MOST DRAMATIC EXAMPLE OF SUCH IMPROVEMENTS WAS THE MASS TRANS IT RAILWAY, WHICH MUST RANK AS ONE OF HONG KONG'S BIGGEST SUCCESS STORIES IN THE LAST DECADE.
THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY WILL EXTEND TO TSUEN WAN NEXT YEAR, TO SHAU KEI WAN IN 1985 AND CHAT WAN IN 1986.
+ IMPROVEMENTS TO BUS SERVICES ARE MORE GRADUAL AND, THEREFORE, LESS STRIKING, BUT THEY ARE GOING ON, MR MULLOY SAID.
+BOTH OF THE MAJOR BUS COMPANIES HAVE CONSIDERABLY INCREASED AND IMPROVED THE IR FLEETS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS AND KMB, IN PARTICULAR, HAS EXTENDED ITS SERVICES INTO THE RAPIDLY-DEVELOPING NEW TOWNS.+
OTHER NEW DEVELOPMENTS WOULD INCLUDE A NEW LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM TO SERVE TUEN MUN AND TO LINK THE NEW TOWN WITH YUEN LONG.
THE KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY ALSO WAS RAPIDLY TRANSFORMING ITSELF FROM A SLOW AND RATHER OLD-FASHIONED RAILWAY INTO AN ELECTRIFIED, RAPID TRANSPORT SYSTEM.
+OTHER PLANS, LINKED WITH PROPOSED NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENTS LIKE JUNK BAY, ARE IN THE PIPELINE,+ MR MULLOY SAID.
+TO REFLECT THESE DEVELOPMENTS, THE ORGANISATION OF THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT WILL CHANGE AND SHOULD HAVE SOME EFFECT ON SPEEDING UP DEVELOPMENTS.
*THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT WILL TAKE OVER CERTAIN DIVISIONS OF THE HIGHWAYS OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT LATER THIS YEAR OR EARLY NEXT YEAR, AND THIS RE-ORGANISATION WILL ENSURE A MORE INTEGRATED AND RATIONAL APPROACH TO SOLVING HONG KONG'S TRANSPORT PROBLEMS IN THE 1980S,+ HE SAID.
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