XN000022-1972-07-19 — Page 1

P.R.H. 7 (REVİZED

4000001

HONG KONG GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICES

DAILY

INFORMATION BULLETIN

MORE CONTROL OVER MINI BUSES?

Wednesday, July 19, 1972

The Transport Advisory Committee is considering adopting measures

to check any undue profiteering by operators of public light buses.

The Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, told the Legislative

Council this afternoon that the Committee had before it a proposal that calls

for public light bus operators to register their normal routes with the Transport

Department, together with the maximum fares they wish to charge over these

routes at peak and non-peak periods. The proposal also stipulates that the operators

must adhere to these routes and fares which should be displayed outside and

inside their vehicles.

Mr. Haddon-Cave, who was replying to a question by the Hon. Wilfred Wong,

said that the Transport Advisory Committee had not yet reached any firm

conclusions, but any recommendations would be carefully considered by the

Government.

He said that when the public light buses were regularised in late

1969, the relative freedom accorded them was basically a recognition of the

intention that they should be a flexible form of public transport.

However, in the course of time they had tended to operate over well-

defined routes, and while more or less standard fares were charged at normal

times, some operators put up their fares, sometimes by a significant margin, at

weekends, on holidays and on certain other occasions.

The Financial