ENG-2000 — Page 308

TRANSPORT

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On the operation of cleaner buses insofar as fuel is concerned, franchised bus companies have, since 1993, been purchasing buses with environmentally friendly engines which meet the emission standards of the European Union and are known as 'Euro engines'. By the end of 2000, over 60 per cent of the buses in the franchised fleet were equipped with Euro engines. For the remaining pre-Euro buses, the bus companies are committed to a programme to fit them with catalytic converters or to replace them. In addition, all franchised bus companies will have switched to the cleaner ultra low sulphur diesel from February 2001.

To combat the problem caused by vehicle exhaust emissions, the Government implemented a strengthened smoke test on all diesel vehicles from October. This is done when the vehicles are produced for their annual inspection. A chassis dynamometer was commissioned in December for testing diesel emissions under load conditions, by random sampling.

Cross-Boundary Traffic

Rail Service to Lo Wu

Lo Wu is currently the only rail boundary crossing to the Mainland. The crossing operated nearly at full capacity, handling 229 100 passengers every weekday, in 2000. The volume of passengers at Lo Wu exceeded 335 500 during festive seasons. Since mid-October 1998, the opening of the Lo Wu crossing has been extended by one hour (from 7 am-11 pm), to 6.30 am-11.30 pm. Improvement has been made to further increase the capacity of the crossing, including construction of additional immigration counters and a pair of escalators linking the departure and arrival halls to allow tidal-flow operation where necessary.

Road Crossings

Lok Ma Chau, Sha Tau Kok and Man Kam To are the three road crossing points between Hong Kong and the Mainland. The Lok Ma Chau crossing has been open to goods vehicles round-the-clock since November 1994. It is open for passenger traffic between 7 am and 10 pm. The Sha Tau Kok and Man Kam To crossings open daily to both goods vehicles and passenger traffic from 7 am to 8 pm and from 7 am to 10 pm, respectively.

The three road crossings handled an average total of 30 721 cross-boundary vehicles per day in 2000, 9 per cent higher than in the previous year. Goods vehicles accounted for 84 per cent of the traffic. The average daily vehicular traffic in 2000 was 2 407 at Sha Tau Kok, 7 513 at Man Kam To and 20 801 at Lok Ma Chau, respectively.

In 2000, the average daily passenger flow at the Lok Ma Chau crossing was 29 938 while the flows at the Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok crossings were maintained at 2 779 and 3 397, respectively. In 2000, 78 companies provided 447 daily coach crossings between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

The shuttle bus service introduced in March 1997 between the Lok Ma Chau Public Transport Interchange and Huanggang in Shenzhen carried 13 700 passengers daily in 2000. Since October 18, the service hours have been extended from 7.30 am-9.30 pm to 7 am-9.30 pm. Improvement to the Public Transport Interchange to provide a