XN000022-1981-10-23 — Page 6

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1981

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POK FU LAM ROAD BUS-ONLY LANE STARTS ON WEDNESDAY

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THE 1.2 KILOMETRE POK FU LAM ROAD BUS-ONLY LANE WOULD BE INTRODUCED NEXT WEDNESDAY (OCTOBER 28), A TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ANNOUNCED TODAY.

THE LANE EXTENDING FROM BISNEY ROAD TO POKFIELD ROAD, WILL OPERATE FROM 7 AM TO 9 AM MONDAY TO SATURDAY.

COMMENTING ON THIS, THE DEPARTMENT'S CHIEF TRANSPORT OFFICER/TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT, MR ALAN LUI, SAID THE BUS PRIORITY SCHEME WAS EXPECTED TO CUT BY 10 TO 15 MINUTES THE JOURNEY TIMES OF BUSES TRAVELLING BETWEEN THE ABERDEEN AREA AND CENTRAL DURING THE MORNING PEAK.

+MORE THAN 250 000 PEOPLE LIVE IN THE ABERDEEN AREA AND THE SURROUNDING DISTRICTS OF WONG CHUK HANG, AP LEI CHAU, TIN WAN, SHEK PAI WAN, WAK FU, CHI FU FA YUEN AND POK FU LAM,+ HE SAID.

+AT THE MOMENT, SOME 160 BUSES ON 10 ROUTES CARRY 12 000 PEOPLE TO CENTRAL FROM THESE AREAS DURING THE PEAK HOURS OF 7 AM TO 9 AM.

+NOW, IN AN EFFORT TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW BUS-ONLY LANE AND TO PERSUADE EVEN MORE PEOPLE TO LESSEN THEIR DEPENDENCE ON CARS, CHINA MOTOR BUS WILL INTRODUCE A NUMBER OF SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS FROM MONDAY (OCTOBER 26).+

ON THAT DAY, MR LUI SAID, CMB WOULD:

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INTRODUCE A NEW ROUTE, NO. 38, BETWEEN CHI FU FA YUEN AND NORTH POINT, TRAVELLING VIA NAM FUNG ROAD AT A BASIC FREQUENCY OF ONE BUS EVERY 15 MINUTES-

* PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL JOURNEY AT 7.45 AM ON

THE ROUTE 3A SERVICE FROM FELIX VILLAS, MT. DAVIS, TO CENTRAL AND

*

IMPROVE THE EVENING OFF-PEAK FREQUENCY OF THE ROUTE 37 SERVICE FROM CENTRAL TO CHI FU FA YUEN TO ONE BUS EVERY 10 MINUTES.

ON CENTRAL-BOUND JOURNEYS, ROUTE NUMBERS 37 (CHI FU FA YUEN TO CENTRAL), 70M (SHEK PAI WAN TO CHATER MTR STATION) AND 71 (WONG CHUK HANG TO CENTRAL) WILL BE DIVERTED VIA THE HILL ROAD FLYOVER AND CONNAUGHT ROAD WEST INSTEAD OF DES VOEUX ROAD WEST.

+WE HAVE OFFSET THE CENTRE LINE OF POK FU LAM ROAD TO PROVIDE SPACE FOR OTHER ROAD-USERS TO FORM TWO QUEUES ALONGSIDE THE BUS-ONLY LANE SECTION, MR LUI SAID.

+THIS MEANS, IN EFFECT, THAT THE ROAD CAPACITY FOR OTHER ROAD-USERS WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED.+

/MR LUT