ENG-1995 — Page 289

TRANSPORT

passengers per day during the year. The company's franchise has been extended to March 31, 1997.

Minibuses

Hong Kong's minibuses are licensed to carry a maximum of 16 passengers. There were 6 971 minibuses in 1995. Of these, 4 350 were public light buses (PLB), and 2 621 private light buses.

The PLBs are authorised to carry passengers paying separate fares. The private light buses are authorised only to carry group passengers and may not collect separate fares.

There are two types of PLBs: green minibuses and red minibuses. Green minibuses provide services according to fixed schedules. There were 1 819 of these, operating on 267 approved routes, each with fixed fares and timetables. They carried 826 000 passengers a day. Red minibuses operate without a schedule. They do not have fixed routes, timetables or fares. The 2 508 red minibuses carried about 904 000 passengers daily in 1995.

In line with government policy to convert more red minibuses to green minibuses, more new scheduled routes will be identified. During the year, an exercise was conducted to select green minibus operators, and minibus operators were invited to apply for the right to operate a total of 21 new routes.

Taxis

Hong Kong had 15 250 urban taxis, 2 838 New Territories taxis and 40 Lantau taxis at the end of the year. They carried a daily average of 1 101 000, 190 000 and 2000 passengers, respectively.

In April 1994, the Executive Council approved the Transport Advisory Committee's recommendations to improve the taxi licensing system, fare structure and quality of service. These recommendations were implemented in stages during 1994 and 1995.

Non-Franchised Bus Operators

Residents' services were introduced in 1982 to give commuters an additional choice of transport modes. These services operate mainly to and from housing estates primarily during peak hours, supplementing services provided by the franchised bus operators. Residents' organisations may invite a non-franchised bus operator to operate such a service under a passenger service licence issued by the Transport Department. Residents' services operate in accordance with approved schedules which specify the routing, timetable and stopping places.

At the end of the year, the 136 residents' services ran 94 800 passenger-trips a day. During the year, 25 residents' services were introduced, providing bus services from various residential areas mainly in the New Territories, the Mid-Levels and southern Hong Kong Island. Non-franchised bus operators also carry factory employees, tourists and students on a group-hire basis.

At the end of 1995, the licensed fleet of non-franchised buses totalled 4 780 vehicles, of which 308 were double-deckers. An increasing proportion of these vehicles was air-conditioned.

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