XN000022-1978-03-24 — Page 2

FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1978

MORE TRAVEL BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT

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A RECORD 2,047.3 MILLION COMMUTERS MADE USE OF PUBLIC ROAD TRANSPORT SERVICES LAST YEAR - AN INCREASE OF 144.2 MILLION OR 7.6 PER CENT OVER 1976.

ON THE AVERAGE, THIS WORKS OUT AT 5.61 MILLION PASSENGERS TRAVELLING EACH DAY BY BUS, PUBLIC LIGHT BUS, TAXI, TRAM, TRAIN AND PUBLIC HIRE CAR..

FIGURES RELEASED TODAY BY THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT SHOW THAT 1,052.5 MILLION COMMUTERS TRAVELLED BY BUS LAST YEAR, 136.4 MILLION BY TRAM, 229.2 MILLION BY TAXI AND PUBLIC HIRE CAR, 13.8 MILLION BY TRAIN, AND 587.65 MILLION BY PUBLIC LIGHT BUS AND MAXICAB.

OF THE 1,052.5 MILLION BUS COMMUTERS, KOWLOON MOTORS BUS CARRIED 810.9 MILLION, REPRESENTING 2.22 MILLION PASSENGER JOURNEYS PER DAY. THIS EXCEEDED LAST YEAR'S RECORD BY 13.5 PER CENT.

THE KMB LAST YEAR OPERATED MORE THAN 150 FRANCHISED BUS SERVICES AND A NETWORK OF FRANCHISED LUXURY COACH SERVICES IN KOWLOON AND THE NEW TERRITORIES, AS WELL AS A SHARE OF THE CROSS-HARBOUR TUNNEL SERVICE TO HONG KONG ISLAND. THE COMPANY HAS A FLEET OF 1,220 DOUBLE-DECKERS, 387 SINGLE-DECKERS AND 102 SINGLE-DECK COACHES.

THE CHINA MOTOR BUS CARRIED A TOTAL OF 239.6 MILLION PASSENGERS DURING THE YEAR, OR 656,000 A DAY, ON ITS 70 ROUTES ON HONG KONG ISLAND. THIS IS AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 9 MILLION OR 3.9 PER CENT OVER THE 1976 FIGURES.

CMB ALSO JOINTLY OPERATED 14 CROSS-HARBOUR BUS SERVICES UNDER A POOLED MILEAGE SCHEME BASED ON ROUTE LENGTH WITH KMB. CMB CARRIED 154,000 PASSENGERS A DAY ON THESE ROUTES, AN INCREASE OF 8.9 PER CENT OVER 1976.

AT THE END OF 1977, CMB HAD A LICENSED FLEET OF 751 VEHICLES, MOST OF THEM ONE-MAN OPERATED. ON AVERAGE, EACH BUS CARRIED 1,120 PASSENGERS DAILY.

LAST YEAR ALSO SAW AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS USING THE FIVE BUS ROUTES OPERATED ON LANTAU ISLAND. BUS PASSENGER TRAFFIC ON THE ISLAND ROSE TO TWO MILLION PASSENGER JOURNEYS, COMPARED TO 1.69 IN 1976.

DURING THE YEAR, HONG KONG TRAMWAYS CARRIED 134.46 MILLION PASSENGERS, 4.9 PER CENT MORE OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR, WHILE ANOTHER 1.94 MILLION PEOPLE USED THE PEAK TRAM - A RISE OF 6.6 PER CENT.

THE KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY REGISTERED AN INCREASE OF 10.5 PER CENT IN PASSENGER VOLUME WHICH ROSE TO 13.8 MILLION LAST YEAR.

/MORE PEOPLE