1995 — Page 82

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

ISO 9002 Accreditation

KMB is committed to providing an efficient, reliable, and user-friendly bus service to its customers. In July

1994, to translate this quality policy into a more tangible form, the Service Department at KMB's Kowloon

Bay Depot employed a set of quality management tools as prescribed by the International Standards

Organisation. In October 1995, this Department was awarded the ISO 9002:1994 Certificate, earning KMB

the prestige of being the first bus company in Hong Kong to achieve this accreditation.

The Service Department at three other KMB depots, namely Lai Chi Kok, Shatin and Tuen Mun, are

currently implementing the same quality management system and are aiming to achieve ISO 9002

accreditation by the middle of 1996.

Route Rationalisation

The nine urban Kowloon network rationalisation packages implemented in 1995 received strong support from our customers. Although 22 double-deck buses were re-deployed to serve the new towns, the

number of passenger-trips for the rationalised routes showed a 7 per cent increase against an overall

decline of 1.6 per cent for the urban Kowloon network as a whole.

The results for the following routes after rationalisation were particularly encouraging:

(a)

(b)

(c)

50 per cent passenger growth for Route No. 215X which combined original Routes No. 14X and No.

15X into a fully air-conditioned express service operating between Lam Tin and Jordan/Tsim Sha

Tsui;

10 per cent passenger growth for Route No. 8A, following its conversion into a fully air-conditioned

service; and

25 per cent passenger growth for Route No. 14B as a result of re-routing to avoid congested areas, thereby shortening the journey time.

Service Improvement Measures

The following service improvements were implemented in 1995:

(a)

279 new buses were brought into service (including 142 replacement and 137 additional vehicles);

THE KOWLOON MOTOR BUS COMPANY (1933) LIMITEDI

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