XN000022-1995-08-30 — Page 4

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Additional bus bay at Kowloon tunnel entrance

An additional bus bay at the Kowloon entrance of the Cross Harbour Tunnel will be opened for cross-harbour buses on Sunday (September 3) as part of the measures to improve traffic flow in the tunnel area.

Announcing the new arrangement today (Wednesday), the Chief Traffic Engineer (Kowloon) of the Transport Department, Mr Chan Kwei-sang, said the existing bus bay had been very congested, particularly during the morning peak hours.

At present, tunnel buses had to queue for a long time in order to enter the existing bus bay, thus causing obstruction to other vehicles, Mr Chan said.

He added that bus passengers also had to queue along the staircases all the way up to the footbridges and walkways linking the Kowloon-Canton Railway Kowloon Station during the peak hours.

"The inadequate capacity of the existing bus bay has adversely affected tunnel bus services and their reliability," Mr Chan said.

In addition, passengers travelling from Kowloon and the New Territories to Hong Kong Island have been encouraged to use the KCR line and change for tunnel buses at the Kowloon Station to relieve pressure on the Mass Transit Railway Nathan Road Corridor.

Therefore, the capacity of the existing bus bay needed to be expanded to meet this increasing demand.

The additional bus bay with a shelter is located on the island between the existing bus bay and the toll plaza.

The work also includes the construction of a footbridge extension and a staircase from the existing footbridge to connect the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The weighbridge system and the lighting mast in the area have also been relocated.

"As a start, it will be used by bus route nos. 107, 170 and 171 and adequate direction signs will be put up to guide passengers," Mr Chan said.