XN000022-1976-05-18 — Page 2

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1976

MORE TRAVEL IN COMFORTABLE TYPES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT

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PEOPLE IN HONG KONG HAVE BEEN WILLING TO PAY HIGHER FARES FOR FASTER AND MORE COMFORTABLE TYPES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS.

ACCORDING TO STATISTICS RELEASED BY THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT, PUBLIC LIGHT BUSES CARRIED AN ESTIMATED AVERAGE OF 1,4 MILLION PASSENGERS EACH DAY LAST YEAR, AN INCREASE OF 893,000 WHEN COMPARED WITH THE FIGURE IN 1966,

TAXIS ALSO BECAME MORE POPULAR DURING THE DECADE WITH THE NUMBER OF TAXIS RISING FROM 2,763 IN 1966 TO 4,754 IN 1975.

LAST YEAR, TAXIS CARRIED SOME 563,000 PASSENGERS A DAY SHOWING AN INCREASE OF ABOUT 72.2 PER CENT OVER THE TEN-YEAR PERIOD, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE DEPARTMENT SAID.

PASSENGERS OF PUBLIC HIRE CARS ALSO INCREASED. IN 1975, THE 1,283 PUBLIC HIRE CARS CARRIED 46,000 PEOPLE PER DAY ON THE AVERAGE, 8,000 MORE THAN IN 1966.

DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE NUMBER OF BUSES HAD NEARLY DOUBLED IN THE PAST TEN YEARS, THE INCREASE OF BUS PASSENGERS WAS COMPARATIVELY SMALL.

ON THE AVERAGE, 2,333,000 PEOPLE TRAVELLED BY FRANCHISED

BUSES EACH DAY LAST YEAR, WHILE THE FIGURE FOR 1966 WAS 2,273,000.

THE SPOKESMAN SAID IT HAD BECOME EVIDENT THAT BUS PASSENGERS NOWADAYS TENDED TO TRAVEL IN LESS CONGESTED BUSES AND THEY APPARENTLY FAVOURED THE MORE +BRANCHING-OUT+ ROUTES TO PLACES FORMERLY NOT SERVED BY BUSES,

HE POINTED OUT THAT A TOTAL OF 43 NEW ROUTES WERE INTRODUCED BY THE TWO BUS COMPANIES LAST YEAR.

OVER THE 1966-75 PERIOD, BOTH TRAMS AND FERRIES CARRIED LESS PASSENGERS.

ONLY ABOUT 400,000 PEOPLE TRAVELLED IN TRAMS ON AN AVERAGE DAY LAST YEAR - A DROP OF OVER 20 PER CENT.

THE NUMBER OF FERRY PASSENGERS DECLINED FOLLOWING THE OPENING OF THE CROSS HARBOUR TUNNEL IN 1972, WITH ITS DAILY AVERAGE DROPPING FROM 649,000 IN THAT YEAR TO 539,000 LAST YEAR.

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