ENG-1994 — Page 306

TRANSPORT

Off-street public parking is also provided by the Civil Aviation Department at the Hong Kong International Airport, and by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation at its terminus in Hung Hom. The private sector also operates multi-storey and open-air public carparks in commercial buildings, public and private housing estates and open-air lots, providing over 120 000 parking spaces.

Licensing

The total number of licensed vehicles in all classes was 454 932 at the end of the year, an increase of 5.17 per cent over 1993.

The number of new private cars registered decreased by 11.68 per cent, from 41 480 in 1993 to 36 634 in 1994. This brought the number of licensed cars to 279 420 in December, an increase of 7.52 per cent over the past year. With effect from August, the retail prices of motor vehicles replaced the Cost Insurance Freightage values as a basis for calculating the first registration tax.

Registered goods vehicles decreased to 141 574 in December, down by 1.55 per cent compared with 143 805 in 1993. Of these, 102 479 were light goods vehicles, a decrease of 3.38 per cent from 1993. In line with the policy to restrain the ownership and use of this class of vehicles, the first registration tax and annual licensing fees of light goods vehicles were increased in 1991 by 50 per cent and 90 per cent, or $4,140 and $2,115, respectively. This had the effect of reducing the number of light goods vehicles, but slightly increasing the number of medium goods vehicles. At the year's end, the number of licensed light goods vehicles stood at 85 507, a decrease of 1.39 per cent from the same period in 1993. Meanwhile, the number of medium goods vehicles increased by 5.7 per cent to 34 231 by the end of 1994.

There were 1 046 399 licensed drivers at the year's end, an increase of 3.78 per cent from 1993. The average number of new learner-drivers decreased from 6 541 per month in 1993 to 5 664 per month in 1994.

Since the introduction of a Driving Offence Points System in August 1984, 27 080 drivers have been disqualified. A total of 281 687 warning notices have been served and 400 764 drivers have incurred penalty points for committing offences scheduled under the Road Traffic (Driving Offence Points) Ordinance. The figures for 1994 were 5 004, 42 037 and 20 007, respectively.

A performance pledge scheme for the services provided by the Transport Department was introduced in December 1992. The scheme, which initially covered the issue of learner and full driving licences and registration and licensing of vehicles, was extended to other licensing and vehicle examination services in October 1994. Two customer liaison groups, covering the licensing services on Hong Kong Island, and in Kowloon and the New Territories, were formed in September 1993 to gauge customers' opinions on services provided and improvements desired.

The Transport Department's licensing offices on Hong Kong Island moved to the United Centre, in Queensway, in August.

Vehicle Examination

The scope of vehicle examination activities continued to expand, through the combined efforts of examination centres operated by both the government and the private sector.

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