ENG-1974 — Page 206

COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT

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formal contract is signed with the Japanese consortium, work could proceed on the project without delay. Accordingly, the Provisional Authority drew up for the govern- ment a Bill providing for the compulsory acquisition of private land for the protection of the route of the railway. The Mass Transit Railway (Land Resumption and Related Provisions) Bill became law in September. The Provisional Authority-through its executive arm in the Public Works Department-continued with a series of land clearances needed to facilitate construction of the railway. Seventy-one of the 79 areas needed as works and construction sites were acquired and cleared. A large number of development proposals, both public and private, were examined to ensure that they did not conflict with the requirements of the railway. Between May and September the Provisional Authority launched an international campaign to recruit staff for the future corporation. By the end of the year, the Provisional Authority had recruited six chief officers of the future corporation and about 50 other staff.

Buses

During 1974, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company's fleet increased from 1,324 to 1,371 vehicles, of which 363 were single-deck buses and the rest, double-deck buses. At the end of the year, the company had on order, or under construction, 144 double-deck buses, 35 single-deck buses and 100 single-deck coaches which will be progressively added to the fleet during 1975-6. The new double-deck buses have accommodation for 102 seated and 19 standing passengers, probably the largest capacity of any double-deck bus in the world. The carrying capacity of the fleet rose by 3.8 per cent to 128,790 at the end of the year. During the year nine new routes were introduced-four in Kowloon and four in the New Territories-making a total of 106 routes. One additional cross-harbour route was introduced, run jointly with the China Motor Bus Company, giving a total of six such routes. During the year, the company's buses operated 54.9 million miles and passenger traffic increased from 493.7 million to 564.5 million. This was the first increase in three years. The company has continued to convert routes to one-man operation, generally using the coin-box method of fare collection, and by the end of the year, 51 per cent of all double-deck and 94 per cent of all single-deck buses were one-man operated.

On Hong Kong Island, the number of bus routes operated by the China Motor Bus Company increased from 39 to a total of 47 by the end of 1974. The company operates 476 double-deck and 119 single-deck buses, representing an increase of five per cent over the previous year. Considerable progress has been made with converting single-deck buses to double-deck buses and this, together with the intake of additional buses, has resulted in the carrying capacity increasing by 8.7 per cent to 50,932. At the end of the year, the company had on order, or under construction, 178 double-deck buses. The new double-deck buses have accommodation for 102 seated and 19 standing passengers. More than 95 per cent of the company's buses are one-man operated, most of them using the coin-box fare collection method. During the year, the company's buses operated 19.7 million miles, and passenger traffic increased from 150.6 million to 181.2 million, the first annual increase since 1969.