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New franchise for CMB for three years
The Governor-in-Council today (Tuesday) approved the terms of a new franchise for the China Motor Bus Company Ltd (CMB) which conferred upon the company the right to operate a public bus service for three years from September 1, 1995.
A Government spokesman said the terms of the new franchise would remove a total of 14 routes from CMB's network and would require the bus company to provide more financial and operational information.
He stressed that it was in the overall interests of the travelling public to offer a new franchise to CMB.
"We believe that the reduced network will be more compatible with CMB's management capability and we aim to improve bus services by increasing competition gradually," he said.
The spokesman pointed out that a number of changes and several new provisions were included in the new franchise.
"New requirements for more information on CMB's bus services such as the number of additional journeys operated, the number of drivers allocated to each route and the working hours of drivers.
"There are also provisions requiring CMB to provide information on its procurement policies, its accounting principles and practices and transactions between CMB and any other members of the group comprising CMB," he said.
He emphasised that the new requirements would enable the Administration to obtain more information from CMB and monitor its services more effectively.
The 14 routes to be excised from CMB's network will be operated by Citybus from September 1 this year.
The spokesman explained that because of time constraints, it was not possible to conduct a public tender exercise.
"We are confident that Citybus will have the necessary buses and drivers to take on the additional routes which are mostly in the Southern District," he said.
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