1
Public Bus Services Ordinance
Following is the speech by the acting Secretary for Transport, Mr Paul Leung, in moving the Public Bus Services Ordinance in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move the Resolution standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Sections 26 to 32 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance provide for a profit control scheme and also stipulate certain provisions relating to the calculation of operating costs and the provision of information in relation to the bus operations of a franchised bus company as the Financial Secretary may require. The profit control scheme limits the profit that a bus company may earn in an accounting year by reference to a percentage per annum on its average net fixed assets as specified in its franchise.
Our current policy for processing fare increase applications is to take various factors into account, particularly operating costs, performance and public acceptability rather than to provide for a profit level based on a percentage rate of return on average net fixed assets. Given this practice, our approach has been to exclude all references to a profit control scheme when negotiating new bus franchises.
Accordingly, it is the Administration's intention that the following franchises recently granted by the Governor in Council should not be subject to the profit control scheme, namely -
(a)
the new franchises for Citybus Limited and Long Win Holdings Limited to operate public bus services in north Lantau and the new airport, which will commence on 1 June 1997; and
(b)
New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited's new franchise which will commence on 1 April 1997.
We therefore need to disapply sections 27, 28, 29 and 31 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance, which govern the operation of the profit control scheme whilst retaining -
(a) section 26 which defines the terms used in the following sections;