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Overnight parking for buses
Following is a question by the Hon Samuel Wong and a reply by the Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Reply:
Will the Government inform this Council of:
(a)
(b).
Mr President,
the respective current shortfalls in overnight bus parking spaces of three bus companies (i.e. KMB, CMB and Citybus), as well as the respective numbers of buses of these companies which have to be parked on the road overnight at present; and
the reduction in the number of bus parking spaces over the past ten years as a result of the Government permitting bus companies to change the usage of their depots?
Overnight parking for franchised buses is permitted at bus depots, off-street short term tenancy (STT) sites, bus termini and also on-street. Taking into account these designated locations for overnight parking, KMB, CMB and Citybus all have sufficient numbers of parking spaces to cater for their respective fleet sizes. The details are set out in the Annex to my reply.
Before buses can be parked overnight at bus termini and on roads, the bus companies must first seek the specific approval of the Commissioner for Transport who would consult the relevant District Boards before permission is given. The parking of buses overnight at termini and, to a more limited extent, on-street, is, of course, not ideal. However, such arrangements are unavoidable for operational reasons because of the lack of suitable sites for off-street parking in the vicinity. In some ways, the reliance on this arrangement has become even greater because bus companies have implemented new routes and improved frequencies in response to requests from District Boards for better services.