ENG-2009 — Page 313

Transport 245

Ferries

Ferries provide essential transport links to outlying islands where no land transport alternatives are available. They also provide an alternative transport service to and from the inner harbour and other areas in Hong Kong.

At year-end, one ferry operator provided two cross-harbour franchised passenger ferry services and 13 ferry operators provided 23 licensed passenger ferry services to outlying islands, new towns and the inner-harbour. These franchised/ licensed services were supplemented by 73 'kaito' or small boats routes, which provide services to relatively remote parts of Hong Kong. Ferries recorded a daily average of about 74 000 passenger trips within the harbour and about 64 000 passenger trips to and 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 1 736 623 licensed drivers, 577 794 licensed private vehicles and 6 276 government vehicles. There were 393 812 licensed private cars, of which 28 432 were new vehicles registered during the year. Registered goods vehicles numbered 114 003, of which 72 505 were light goods vehicles, 38 387 medium goods vehicles and 3 111 heavy goods vehicles. On average, there were 3 293 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 provide the driving improvement course. To further enhance road safety, persons falling within the specified two categories are required to attend the course on a mandatory basis starting from February 2009 in accordance with the Road Traffic Ordinance and Road Traffic (Driving-offence Points) Ordinance. The categories are offenders who have been convicted of serious traffic offences and who have accumulated 10 Driving Offence Points within two years. From September 2002 to December 2009, about 22 800 drivers attended the course, among whom about 1 200 drivers were required to attend the course mandatory basis. About 80 per cent of the drivers who attended the course did not incur new driving-offence points for six months after the course.

Vehicle Examination

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Vehicles are examined routinely 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 2009, some 188 000 vehicles were