ENG-2010 — Page 306

252 Transport

Bus services on Hong Kong Island are provided by NWFB and CTB. At year-end, NWFB was operating 52 bus routes on Hong Kong Island, 8 in Kowloon and Tseung Kwan O and 33 cross-harbour routes, 29 of which were run jointly with KMB. It had a licensed fleet of 704 air-conditioned buses, of which 589 were wheelchair- accessible.

NWFB recorded 172 million passenger trips (a daily average of 471 600 passenger trips) covering 48.47 million kilometres of roads.

CTB operates two bus networks under two franchises. One of these covers 62 bus routes on Hong Kong Island, one bus route in the New Territories and 29 cross-harbour routes, 21 of which are operated jointly with KMB. The other franchise covers a network of 18 routes plying between the urban areas and North Lantau or the airport.

At year-end, CTB had a licensed fleet of 938 air-conditioned buses, of which 362 were wheelchair-accessible. The company recorded 211 million passenger trips (a daily average of 578 300 passenger trips) covering 81.84 million kilometres of road.

The Long Win Bus Company Limited provides services between the New Territories and Lantau Island and the airport. The company made 29.41 million passenger trips (a daily average of 80 600 passenger trips) covering 25.61 million kilometres of roads in 2010. At year-end, it ran 19 routes with a licensed fleet of 165 air-conditioned buses. All vehicles were wheelchair-accessible.

The New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited mainly provides bus services on Lantau Island. The company recorded 19.06 million passenger trips (a daily average of 52 000 passenger trips) which covered 6.55 million kilometres of road. It ran 23 routes with a licensed fleet of 103 vehicles.

Different forms of fare concession were provided by the franchised bus companies during the year. For example, all franchised bus companies offered concessionary fares for children aged under 12 and elderly passengers on all routes (except recreational routes operated by CTB).

Bus-Bus Interchange schemes are implemented to encourage more efficient use of resources and limited road space, and to provide more choice for passengers. Fare discounts are offered to passengers when interchanging between designated bus routes. At year-end, a total of 241 bus-to-bus interchange schemes were in operation, involving about 400 routes.

Non-franchised Buses

Non-franchised bus services play a supplementary role in the public transport system. They relieve heavy demand on regular public transport services primarily during peak hours, fill the gaps which cannot be met by regular public transport services and provide tailor-made services to specific groups of passengers. They mainly serve tourists, groups of residents, employees and students. At year-end, there were 7 065 registered non-franchised buses of which 6 985 were in operation.