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still existed in Li Cheng Uk Swimming Pool in Sham Shui Po, but eventually it was cancelled in July. May I suggest that in the next swimming season, the coin-change service should continue so that the inconvenience caused to family swimmers can be minimized.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the service provided at the Swimming Pool mentioned by Mr. MA is an exception as it has been provided with enough attendants. If we were to provide similar service in all swimming pools, the original objectives of the installation of the coin-operated turnstiles would be lost. As regards the admission rate, previously it was 15 per minute but now it is up to 60 per minute, which I think was the figure during the peak period last year. Due to the fact that in the last two years, we have reduced the no. of sessions per day from four or five to one or two; Swimmers can now enter the swimming pools at rather more irregular hours and queuing up was something historical now.
MR. DAVID P. S. FONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, as far as I understand, when swimmers go into the changing room of the swimming pool complex, they need to pay a dollar for a locker. As the locker is rather small, one family usually needs more than one locker. As a result, many swimmers have suggested that bigger lockers should be provided so that they do not need more coins to take up more lockers and at the same time it would reduce the inconvenience of keeping a number of keys.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I think it is a misunderstanding. The use of the lockers is absolutely free of charge because when the locker is opened by the key, the coin would be returned. Of course, we could consider providing bigger lockers for use by two or three persons in the future.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I want to ask whether the automatic coin change machine has been considered by the Recreation Select Committee because it is widely available and at a reasonable cost and this would certainly make it more convenient for the public if they don't have small changes on admissions.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the Recreation Select Committee has not really gone into such details. In some countries, underground railway stations do have note-to-coin change machines. Since Hong Kong is an advanced city, the KCRC has already installed one such machine. However, an unofficial report to hand reveals that the machine has broken down 27 times in two months and it once even accepted a Chinese bank note. We will not consider providing such a machine until we have more details and proofs that it is reliable.
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MR. AMBROSE W. S. CHEUNG (in English):—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In fact, my question is around the same area about the coin exchange machine and with the answer from the relevant Select Committee then no doubt the Chairman would consider in due course as to whether that particular system would be workable. Except that I would like to add one point is that in anticipation of further increase of entrance fee into the swimming pools, one can anticipate that the round figures of that sort of entrance fee would become odd dollars or cents and that would make the whole situation more complicated.
(Mr. John K. P. FAN left the meeting at 3:16 p.m.)
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, it is true that the current admission fees are $10 and $5 so we don't have too many problems in coins handling. But should the problem arise in future, we might perhaps consider adopting stored-value tickets now being used in the MTR and KCR. However, the costs of installing such machines are still not yet known to us. One definite advantage is that our staff need not spend time handling money.
STATEMENT BY MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, members will see in the September issue of 'City News' a round-up on what the Urban Council is doing in regard to markets and hawkers in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon with a population of nearly four million.
Market
As members are aware, a new 'Working Group on Provision of Market Facilities' was set up 2 months ago under the chairmanship of Dr. Elsie Tu to study the problems on providing adequate marketing facilities, particularly in districts such as Sham Shui Po, which is a densely populated area where marketing facilities are very inadequate.
I am also interested in identifying one or two cooked food centres in Urban Council market complexes which could (a) become a tourist attraction, as part of the local flavour of Hong Kong, particularly for Southeast Asia tourists, and (b) to participate in future Hong Kong Food Festivals.
The Department is currently examining the feasibility of providing air-conditioning service in one or two cooked food centres in UC markets as an experimental project. It is expected that appropriate recommendations would be made to Council in the next few months.
Hawkers
In regard to hawkers, I am very keen on the Urban Services Department formulating a plan of action to provide fixed sites for as many of the estimated 8,000 itinerant hawkers as is possible, bearing in mind that limited sites are
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still existed in Li Cheng Uk Swimming Pool in Sham Shui Po, but eventually it was cancelled in July. May I suggest that in the next swimming season, the coin-change service should continue so that the inconvenience caused to family swimmers can be mininized.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, the service provided at the Swimming Pool mentioned by Mr. MA is an exception as it has been provided with enough attendants. If we were to provide similar service in all swimming pools, the original objectives of the installation of the coin-operated turnstiles would be lost. As regards the admission rate, previously it was 15 per minute but now it is up to 60 per minute, which I think was the figure during the peak period last year. Due to the fact that in the last two years, we have reduced the no. of sessions per day from four or five to one or two; Swimmers can now enter the swimming pools at rather more irregular hours and queuing up was something historical now.
MR. DAVID P. S. FONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, as far as I understand, when swimmers go into the changing room of the swimming pool complex, they need to pay a dollar for a locker. As the locker is rather small, one family usually needs more than one locker. As a result, many swimmers have suggested that bigger lockers should be provided so that they do not need more coins to take up more lockers and at the same time it would reduce the inconvenience of keeping a number of keys.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think it is a mis- understanding. The use of the lockers are absolutely free of charge because when the locker is opened by the key, the coin would be returned. Of course we could consider providing bigger lockers for use by two or three persons in the future.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I want to ask whether the automatic coin change machine has been considered by the Recreation Select Committee because it is widely available and at the reasonable cost and this would certainly make it more convenient for the public if they don't have small changes on admissions.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, the Recreation Select Committee has not really gone into such details. In some countries, underground railway stations do have note-to-coin change machine. Since Hong Kong is an advanced city, the KCRC has already installed one such machine. However, an unofficial report to hand reveals that the machine has broken down 27 times in two months and it once even accepted a Chinese bank note. We will not consider providing such machine until we have more details and proofs that it is reliable.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
101
MR. AMBROSE W. S. CHEUNG (in English):—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In fact my question is around the same area about the coin exchange machine and with the answer from the relevant Select Committee then no doubt the Chairman would consider in due course as to whether that particular system would be workable. Except that I would like to add one point is that in anticipation of further increase of entrance fee into the swimming pools, one can anticipate that the round figures of that sort of entrance fee would become odd dollars or cents and that would make the whole situation more complicated.
(Mr. John K. P. FAN left the meeting at 3.16 p.m.)
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, it is true that the current admission fees are $10 and $5 so we don't have too many problems in coins handling. But should the problem arise in future, we might perhaps consider adopting stored-value ticket now being used in the MTR and KCR. However, the costs of installing such machine are still not yet known to us. One definite advantage is that our staff need not spend time in handling money.
STATEMENT BY MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, members will see in the September issue of 'City news' a round-up on what the Urban Council is doing in regard to markets and hawkers in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon with a population of nearly four million.
Market
As members are aware, a new 'Working Group on Provision of Market Facilities' was set up 2 months ago under the chairman-ship of Dr. Elsie Tu to study the problems on providing adequate marketing facilities, particularly in districts such as Sham Shui Po, which is a densely populated area where marketing facilities are very inadequate.
I am also interested in identifying one or two cooked food centres in Urban Council market complexes which could (a) become a tourist attraction, as part of the local flavour of Hong Kong, particularly for Southeast Asia tourists, and (b) to participate in future Hong Kong Food Festivals.
The Department is currently examining the feasibility of providing air- conditioning service in one or two cooked food centres in UC markets as an experimental project. It is expected that appropriate recommendations would be made to Council in the next few months.
Hawkers
In regard to hawkers, I am very keen on the Urban Services Department formulating a plan of action to provide fixed sites for as many of the estimated 8 000 itinerant hawkers as is possible, bearing in mind that limited sites are
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