XN000022-1982-10-04 — Page 6

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1982

CENTRAL DISTRICT PUBLIC TRANSPORT PRIORITY SCHEME

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MOST CENTRAL-BOUND BUSES USING QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL BETWEEN QUEENSWAY AND PEDDER STREET WILL BE DIVERTED VIA THE BUS-ONLY LANE ON DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL AS FROM FRIDAY (OCTOBER 8).

THE SEPARATION OF MOST OF THE BUSES FROM OTHER VEHICLES ALONG THIS BUSY ROAD IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT TO TRAFFIC FLOW.

SENIOR TRANSPORT OFFICER, MR ALDOUS CHUNG SAID TODAY (MONDAY) THAT ONCE THE CENTRAL DISTRICT PUBLIC TRANSPORT PRIORITY SCHEME IS IMPLEMENTED OVER A THREE-WAY PERIOD FROM WEDNESDAY, 22 ROUTES AN ADDITIONAL 11 -- WILL BE ABLE TO USE THE DES VOEUX ROAD BUS LANE.

THIS WILL ENABLE A GREATER USE OF THE BUS-ONLY LANE

IN DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL AND ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF BUSES WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE TO USE QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL.

THIS WILL NOT ONLY REDUCE TRAFFIC VOLUME BUT WILL ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY LESSEN KERBSIDE ACTIVITIES ALONG THIS ROAD SECTION, MR CHUNG SAID,

HE ALSO EMPHASISED THAT THE NEW TRAFFIC MEASURES WOULD BRING ABOUT REDUCTION IN BUS JOURNEY TIME, PARTICULARLY DURING THE MORNING PEAK HOURS,

CLEARWAY RESTRICTIONS, RE-ROUTING OF TRAFFIC AND JUNCTION IMPROVEMENTS WILL ALSO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PLAN.

STAGE OF THE SCHEME WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FROM 7 AM ON WEDNESDAY (OCTOBER 6) AS FOLLOWS:

DOUGLAS STREET WILL BE RESERVED FOR FRANCHISED BUSES ONLY BETWEEN 7 AM AND 11 PM DAILY, BUT THE EXISTING BUS-ONLY LANE ON POTTINGER STREET BETWEEN CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL AND DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL WILL BE CANCELLED.

POTTINGER STREET WILL BE DESIGNATED AS AN URBAN CLEARWAY, WHERE VEHICLES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO STOP FOR PASSENGERS OR GOODS FROM 7 AM TO 10 AM AND FROM 4 PM TO 7 PM EVERY DAY.

DOUGLAS STREET AND THE SECTION OF POTTINGER STREET BETWEEN QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL AND DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL WILL BE RE-ROUTED FROM ONE-WAY NORTHBOUND TO ONE-WAY SOUTHBOUND.

CMB ROUTE 20 WILL BE DIVERTED VIA DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL INSTEAD OF QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL ON WESTBOUND JOURNEYS.

ON JOURNEYS TO THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT, CMB ROUTE 3A, 4, 7,

37 AND 71A WILL USE POTTINGER STREET INSTEAD OF JUBILEE STREET,

THE TERMINUS OF CMB ROUTE 22 WILL BE RELOCATED FROM POTTINGER STREET TO DOUGLAS STREET.

/STAGE 2