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Air-conditioning buses
Following is a question by the Hon Zachary Wong and a reply by the Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of air-conditioned buses and non air-conditioned buses of three of the franchised bus companies (i.e., the Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited, the China Motor Bus Company Limited and the Citybus Limited), as well as the proportion between these two types of buses in the fleets of each of the three franchised bus companies, in each of the past three years;
(b) of a breakdown of the existing number of air-conditioned buses and non air-conditioned buses of the three franchised bus companies operating on each specified route, together with the increase in the number of air-conditioned buses in each of the three franchised bus companies in each of the past three years,
(c) of the difference in fares on average between air-conditioned buses and non air-conditioned buses; and
(d) how the three bus companies determine the number of air-conditioned buses and non air-conditioned buses to be deployed on each route and the difference in fares between the two types of buses?
Reply:
Mr President,
The Hon Wong Wai-yin has asked for a lot of facts and figures. For easy reference, I have provided these in the Annex to my reply.
Turning to the deployment of buses on each route, our feedback is that most commuters welcome air-conditioned buses since they are cleaner, more comfortable and quieter. Having said this, some commuters of course opt for non air-conditioned buses because of the lower fares.
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