XN000022-1988-11-16 — Page 26

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1988

ON THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY, EIGHT CAR TRAINS WERE BEING RUN AT TWO-MINUTE HEADWAY DURING MORNING PEAKS AT BOTH THE TSUEN WAN AND KWUN TONG LINES, AND AT THREE MINUTES ON THE ISLAND LINE.

BY MAY 1989, IMPROVEMENT WORKS TO THE TSUEN WAN DEPOT SHOULD EXTEND THE TWO-MINUTE HEADWAY AT THE TSUEN WAN LINE FOR A LONGER PERIOD IN THE MORNING PEAK.

ON PHASE I OF THE LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEM, WHICH CAME INTO OPERATION IN SEPTEMBER, MR LEUNG SAID IT WAS CARRYING A DAILY AVERAGE OF 180,000 COMMUTERS, TOGETHER WITH 20,000 ON THE FEEDER BUSES.

SYSTEMS ELSEWHERE, THE LRT

HE SAID LIKE MANY OTHER NEW RAIL FACED TEETHING PROBLEMS DURING ITS INITIAL OPERATION.

HOWEVER, IMPROVEMENTS WERE CONSTANTLY BEING INTRODUCED REFINEMENTS TO SIGNALISED CROSSINGS, PLATFORM WIDTH AND INTERFACE BETWEEN THE LIGHT RAIL VEHICLES AND OTHER ROAD USERS WERE BEING MADE IN THE LIGHT OF EXPERIENCE, HE ADDED.

MR LEUNG BELIEVED THAT LOCAL COMMUTERS, WITH CARE AND PATIENCE, WOULD GRADUALLY ACCUSTOM THEMSELVES TO THE NEW SYSTEM, AND TO USE IT SAFELY.

COMMENTING ON THE ROLE OF KCRC AND MTRC MR LEUNG SAID THAT THE PRIMARY AIM OF ESTABLISHING THE TWO RAIL CORPORATIONS WAS ΤΟ ENSURE THE PROVISION OF AN EFFICIENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM THAT WOULD MEET THE GROWING NEEDS OF THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC.

THIS AIM WAS ENSHRINED IN THE RESPECTIVE ORDINANCES,

STRESSED.

HE

ALTHOUGH THE CORPORATIONS ENJOYED SOME FLEXIBILITY IN THEIR DAY-TO-DAY OPERATION, OVERALL CONTROL REMAINED WITH THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR TO ENSURE THAT THE CORPORATIONS ACT IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH THE OVERALL PUBLIC INTEREST.

"TIME AND EXPERIENCE HAVE SHOWN THAT BOTH

ACTED RESPONSIBLY," MR LEUNG SAID.

CORPORATIONS HAVE

ON THE THRER FRANCHISED BUS COMPANIES, HE SAID THEY CARRIED NEARLY FOUR MILLION PASSENGERS A DAY CATERING FOR WELL OVER 40 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL DAILY PUBLIC TRANSPORT PATRONAGE.

THEIR FIVE-YEAR FORWARD PLANNING PROGRAMMES PLUS ANNUAL ROUTE DEVELOPMENT PLANS SHOULD BE ABLE TO COPE WITH THE MEDIUM-TERM NEED.

FERRIES REMAINED AN IMPORTANT OFF-ROAD MODE OF TRANSPORT. TWO ROUTES, WAN CHAI TO KOWLOON POINT, AND FROM KOWLOON ΤΟ LANTAU AND CHEUNG CHAU WERE INTRODUCED THIS YEAR.

BE DONE ΤΟ EXPAND FERRIES BERTHING FACILITIES IN

THE

MR LEUNG INDICATED MORE COULD SERVICES. HOWEVER, INADEQUATE PIER AND HARBOUR WERE RESTRICTING THEIR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.

THE TRANSPORT