XN000022-1983-05-19 — Page 12

THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1983

FEWER PUBLIC COMPLAINTS AGAINST BUS DRIVERS

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THE TRANSPORT ADVISORY COMMITTEE'S TRANSPORT COMPLAINTS UNIT HAS BEEN RECEIVING FEWER PUBLIC COMPLAINTS AGAINST BUS DRIVERS.

IN ITS LATEST QUARTERLY REPORT, THE COMPLAINTS UNIT RECORDED THAT THERE WERE 70 COMPLAINTS AGAINST STAFF OF THE CHINA MOTOR BUS COMPANY AND 31 COMPLAINTS AGAINST KMB IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR, COMPARED WITH 78 AND 39 RESPECTIVELY IN THE PREVIOUS QUARTER.

TWELVE OF THE 70 COMPLAINTS AGAINST CMB STAFF WERE ANONYMOUS AND COULD NOT BE PURSUED.

HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS AGAINST PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES REMAINED HIGH, AMOUNTING TO SOME 48 PER CENT (OR 552 OUT OF THE TOTAL 1 151) DIRECT COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY THE UNIT, COMPARED WITH 593 (OR 45 PER CENT) OF THE TOTAL 1 331 COMPLAINTS IN THE PREVIOUS QUARTER.

IN PRESENTING HIS REPORT, THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE COMPLAINTS UNIT, MR JAMES KWAN, NOTED THAT BOTH CMB AND KMB HAD INCREASED THEIR FLEET SIZE SIGNIFICANTLY AND THE ADDITIONAL BUSES HAD IMPROVED THE LEVEL OF SERVICE IN TERMS OF FREQUENCY AND PASSENGER CAPACITY, AND CONSEQUENTLY REDUCED OVERCROWDING ON BUSES.

+BUS PASSENGERS ARE NOW MORE WILLING TO AIR THEIR GRIEVANCES BECAUSE THEY ARE CONFIDENT THAT THEIR COMPLAINTS WILL BE THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED, + MR KWAN SAID.

A COMPLAINT WHICH WAS RAISED FROM TIME TO TIME CONCERNG THE IMPROPER DISPLAY OF ROUTE NUMBERS AND DESTINATION SIGNS. THIS OFTEN LED TO INCONVENIENCE AND SOMETIMES SQUABBLES BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND BUS DRIVERS.

+THE COMPLAINTS UNIT WILL INVESTIGATE THESE COMPLAINTS IF THE PASSENGER CAN PROVIDE THE REGISTRATION OR FLEET NUMBER OF THE BUS, ITS ROUTE NUMBER AND DESTINATION, AND THE DAY AND TIME OF THE INCIDENT, + MR KWAN SAID.

MR KWAN, WHO WAS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE TRANSPORT COMPLAINTS UNIT SINCE ITS WAS SET UP IN AUGUST 1980, WAS SUCCEEDED BY MR STEPHEN PANG FROM MAY 1.