ENG-1953 — Page 174

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953

For the fourth year in succession the service carried more than one and a half million passengers, traffic again being heavier than the previous year.

Bus Services

Bus services on the Island are maintained by the China Motor Bus Company Limited operating a fleet of 172 vehicles.

The number of buses in daily service increased steadily during the year and the total mileage covered was 7.3 million miles, an increase of more than 7% over the previous year. There was not, however, a corresponding increase in the number of passengers carried, which remained approximately constant at 49.7 millions.

The peak hour service on routes operating through the city of Victoria, between the Monument, Happy Valley and Possession Street, now provides for one bus a minute in each direction.

After lengthy negotiations with United Kingdom manu- facturers, arrangements have been made for the production of a special short-wheelbase chassis suitable for operation on the steep, winding roads which are a feature of many suburban routes, and an order has been placed for twenty of these vehicles.

During the year, the Kowloon Motor Bus Co., (1933) Ltd., which operates in Kowloon and the New Territories, has carried 1684 million passengers as compared with 148 million in 1952. The distance covered by this company's vehicles was 16 million miles, an increase of more than a million miles over the year 1952.

A new service was started on 1st April, between Un Long and Tai Po, via Lam Kam Road, and the service which formerly ran between Sham Shui Po Ferry and Kowloon City was ex- tended to Ngau Tau Kok.

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