ENG-2008 — Page 307

Transport 243

At year-end, one ferry operator provided two cross-harbour franchised passenger ferry services and 14 ferry operators provided 24 licensed passenger ferry services to outlying islands, new towns and the inner-harbour. These franchised/ licensed services were supplemented by about 74 'kaito' or small boat routes, which provide services to relatively remote parts of Hong Kong. Ferries recorded a daily average of about 81 600 passenger trips within the harbour and about 65 500 passenger trips to/from the outlying islands.

Transport Management

Effective transport management is essential for the orderly and safe operation of the transport system. The Government's regulatory powers are provided under the Road Traffic Ordinance. Every effort is made to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transport management through the use of modern technology in a variety of areas.

Licensing

At year-end, there were 1 756 779 licensed drivers, 568 811 licensed private vehicles and 6 295 government vehicles. There were 383 141 licensed private cars, of which 34 614 were new vehicles registered during the year. Registered goods. vehicles totalled 117 592, of which 74 363 were light goods vehicles, 40 075 medium goods vehicles and 3 154 heavy goods vehicles. On average, there were 3 183 new learner-drivers per month.

Driver Improvement Scheme

To promote road safety and make drivers more law abiding through better understanding of good driving behaviour and attitude, the Transport Department launched a Driver Improvement Scheme in September 2002 and designated a number of driving schools to help both drivers and road users to behave properly on the road. From September 2002 to December 2008, around 16 000 drivers attended the driving improvement course which they found very useful. About 72 per cent of the drivers who attended the course did not incur new driving-offence points for six months after the course.

Vehicle Examination

Vehicles are examined to ensure they are safe, roadworthy and properly maintained. All public service vehicles, goods vehicles exceeding 1.9 tonnes, and trailers must undergo annual inspections. In 2008, 193 000 vehicles were examined at the four government vehicle examination centres. In addition, 3 500 spot checks were carried out on franchised buses to confirm their safety, roadworthiness and service standards. Private cars over six years old and light goods vehicles not exceeding 1.9 tonnes are inspected annually at 22 designated car testing centres run by the private sector. These centres carried out 225 000 vehicle examinations.

Two chassis dynamometers have been installed in the Kowloon Bay Vehicle Examination Centre to carry out random checks on smoke emissions from diesel vehicles.