XN000022-1981-02-17 — Page 3

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1981

AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR PARKING METER OPERATIONS WILL BE EXTENDED TO SUNDAYS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS.

THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT IN ADDITION TO REPLACING ALL EXISTING METERS WITH NEW AND +SAFER+ ONES, SECURITY WOULD ALSO BE IMPROVED BY COLLECTING METER MONEY DAILY, RATHER THAN TWO OR THREE TIMES A WEEK AS AT PRESENT.

HE SAID THE DELIVERY OF NECESSARY EQUIPMENT WOULD TAKE ABOUT FOUR MONTHS. THEREFORE, THE ROAD TRAFFIC (PARKING AND WAITING) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 1981 WHICH PROVIDE FOR THE NEW METER CHARGES WOULD COME INTO EFFECT ON JULY 1.

+BUT, HE SAID, AS THE WHOLE RECALIBRATION AND INSTALLATION EXERCISE WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO COMPLETE AFTER THAT DATE, THE PUBLIC WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY THE NEW CHARGES UNTIL THEY APPEAR ON THE STREET, AS IT WERE. THIS WILL BE IN STAGES.+

GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE TRANSPORT IN TUEN MUN

*****

GOVERNMENT IS DETERMINED TO IMPROVE THE TRANSPORT SITUATION IN TUEN MUN, BOTH FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTERNAL COMMUTING.

THE DISTRICT OFFICER, MR BILLIE LAM, SAID THIS TODAY (TUESDAY) DURING A SPEECH TO THE CITY LIONS CLUB OF HONG KONG.

MR LAM SAID PRIORITY ATTENTION WAS BEING GIVEN BY THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT AND KOWLOON MOTOR BUS COMPANY IN IMPROVING THE FREQUENCY OF THE 10 EXISTING BUS ROUTES PLYING BETWEEN TUEN MUN AND THE URBAN AREAS.

A FLEET OF 30 DOUBLE DECKERS, EACH WITH SEATING CAPACITY FOR 120, WAS BEING DEPLOYED TO SERVE TUEN MUN AND URBAN KOWLOON ROUTES.

THE DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD, WHICH MONITORS THE SITUATION WITH THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT AND THE DISTRICT OFFICE, HAD AGREED TO A TENTATIVE TARGET OF HAVING 20 MINUTES AS THE MAXÍMUM WAITING TIME, WHICH SHOULD BE IMPROVED AS AND WHEN MORE BUSES WERE INTRODUCED AND WHICH WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DETERIORATE EVEN WITH THE CONTINUOUS GROWTH OF POPULATION.

MR LAM SAID WORK WOULD NOW START ON A TEMPORARY PIER TO PROVIDE FOR FERRIES TO OPERATE FROM TUEN MỤN TO BOTH KOWLOON AND HONG KONG BY AUGUST.

+INITIALLY, IT IS EXPECTED THAT DOUBLE-DECKER FERRIES CAPABLE OF CARRYING 600 OR MORE PASSENGERS WILL PLY BETWEEN TUEN MUN AND MEI FOO, AND AN HOURLY HOVERCRAFT SERVICE WITH A JOURNEY TIME OF 30 MINÚTES WILL PLY BETWEEN CENTRAL AND TUEN MUN, MR LAM SAID.

+ THE ROUTES AND FREQUENCIES ARE BEING FINALISED AND WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF EXPERIENCE. +

THE COMPLETION OF THE MTR EXTENSION TO TSUEN WAN BY MID-1982 AND THE SIX-LANE TUEN MUN HIGHWAY BY LATE 1982 WOULD CERTAINLY FURTHER IMPROVE EXTERNAL TRANSPORT BETWEEN TUEN MUN AND THE URBAN AREAS. A PROBLEM WHICH WOULD GRADUALLY DIMINISH AS THE TOWN BECAME SELF-CONTAINED.

/MR LAY