ENG-1957 — Page 299

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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located on the upper storeys of the new building, leaving the ground floor free for parking.

The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd. now has a total fleet of 526 vehicles. During the year 90 out of the 100 new single-deck buses on order were delivered.

Thirty-seven routes are now operating in Kowloon and the New Territories, one new route being introduced during the year. The passengers carried by the Company's services numbered 277,000,000,

and the

the distance covered was 21,500,000 miles.

The new headquarters and depot of the Company at To Kwa Wan Road, Kowloon, have been completed; con- struction of another depot at Lai Chi Kok was commenced in July and is expected to be ready for occupation by the middle of 1958.

Ferries. The 'Star' Ferry Co., Ltd. operates a passenger ferry service across the narrowest part of the harbour, a distance of approximately one mile, from a point in the centre of Victoria to Tsim Sha Tsui at the southern extremity of the Kowloon peninsula. Eight vessels are in service and operate daily for 19 hours. A three-minute service, taking eight minutes to cross, is maintained during the day, and a regular service until well past midnight. Over 37,000,000 passengers were carried in 145,000 crossings during the year, the average daily load being 100,000 persons.

The Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry Co., Ltd. began opera- tions on 1st January, 1924, with eleven small wooden steam- vessels servicing three cross-harbour routes. Today the Company operates a fleet of 47 diesel-engined vessels which maintain six cross-harbour ferry services as well as ferry services to outlying districts in the New Territories.

The routes inside the Harbour are between Wilmer Street, Jubilee Street, Stewart Road and Tonnochy Road on the Island, and Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, Jordan Road and Kowloon City on Kowloon peninsula. The Company also