XN000022-1981-01-20 — Page 3

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1981

TRANSPORT INSPECTORS HAVE JOB TO KEEP HK MOVING

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COMMUTERS QUEUING FOR KMB BUSES DURING THE AFTERNOON RUSH HOUR RECENTLY MIGHT HAVE NOTICED A FIGURE WATCHING NEARBY, ALERT WITH A CLIPBOARD AND PEN IN HAND.

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THEY MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN IT BUT THEY WERE SEEING A MEMBER OF THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT'S WATCHDOG TEAMS - A SMALL ARMY OF TRANSPORT INSPECTORS - ENGAGED IN 'OPERATION SCREENLINE'.

SUCH A FULL-SCALE SCREENLINE SURVEY IS TAKEN ABOUT EVERY THREE MONTHS ON A DATE UNKNOWN TO THE BUS COMPANIES. LAST WEEK IT TOOK PLACE AT 24 CRITICAL LOCATIONS WHERE SOMETHING LIKE 34 INSPECTORS SCREENED ALL KMB'S 177 ROUTES - IN KOWLOON AND THE NEW TERRITORIES.

DOWN THE CLIPBOARD CHART WENT THE REGISTRATION NUMBER OF A BUS, ITS FLEET NUMBER, ROUTE NUMBER AND ANY NOTEWORTHY EVENT, SUCH AS OVERCROWDING.

THE INFORMATION WAS FED BACK TO HEADQUARTERS AND PUT TOGETHER WITH OTHERS. BY THE USE OF THIS TECHNIQUE THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT CAN MONITOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ENTIRE BUS FLEET AND GET A PICTURE OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BUSES IN OPERATION AT THAT TIME.

'SCREENLINE' IS ONLY ONE OF THE DEPARTMENT'S MONITORING METHODS. TRANSPORT INSPECTORS ALSO CHECK ON MANY OTHER ASPECTS, SUCH AS ON COMPLAINTS ABOUT SERVICES NOT RUNNING TO SCHEDULE,

THE METHODS INCLUDE:

* ROUTE SURVEYS:

*

*

ABOUT TWICE A WEEK

COVERING MANY BUS ROUTES. TO DETERMINE ADHERENCE TO SCHEDULES. WAITING TIMES FOR PASSENGERS, AND BUS RUNNING TIMES.

BLANKET SURVEYS:

THESE ARE UNDERTAKEN BY THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ON BEHALF OF THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT, ONCE A YEAR. THEY DETERMINE THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF BUS DEPARTURES FROM TERMINI IN RELATION TO SCHEDULED REQUIREMENTS.

ROADWORTHINESS INSPECTIONS.

SUCH INSPECTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT ANNUALLY ON EACH BUS BEFORE IT CAN BE RELICENSED FOR SERVICE.

* FITNESS INSPECTIONS

THEY ARE CARRIED OUT ON BUSES EVERY FOUR, THREE OR TWO YEARS DEPENDING ON THE AGE OF THE VEHICLE.

THESE INVOLVE A MAJOR OVERHAUL OF THE ENGINE, CHASSIS AND BODYWORK.

领

SPOT CHECK