ENG-2012 — Page 264

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Transport

Franchised bus companies offer concessionary half fares for children. Section fares are available for about 90 per cent of mid-distance and long-distance routes (ie about 460 routes) in Hong Kong and the bus companies also provide about 250 Bus-Bus Interchange concession schemes, covering 400 bus routes or about 70 per cent of all routes. The tramway and ferries have discount fares for the elderly and children and some PLB routes run concessionary fare schemes.

Since June 2012, elderly passengers and eligible disabled persons can enjoy a concessionary fare of $2 fare per trip on most MTR, franchised bus and ferry routes under the Government's Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities.

Transport Management

Effective transport management is essential for the orderly and safe operation of the transport system and modern technology is used in a variety of ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transport management.

Licensing

At year-end, there were 1,935,083 licensed drivers, 646,770 licensed private vehicles and 6,240 government vehicles. Of the 454,697 licensed private cars, 44,983 were new vehicles registered during 2012. Of the 112,721 licensed goods vehicles, 71,699 were light goods vehicles, 36,788 medium goods vehicles and 4,234 heavy goods vehicles. On average, 4,425 new learners' driving licences were issued per month.

Driver Improvement Scheme

The Road Traffic Ordinance and the Road Traffic (Driving-offence Points) Ordinance require offenders who have been convicted of serious traffic offences and traffic offenders who have accumulated 10 Driving Offence Points within two years to attend a driving improvement course provided by a designated driving school. The courses are also open to the general public. From September 2002 to December 2012 about 75,300 drivers attended the course, including 45,700 drivers required to attend the course on a mandatory basis. About 80 per cent of drivers who attended the course did not incur new driving-offence points for six months after the course.

Vehicle Examination

Vehicles are examined routinely to ensure they are safe, roadworthy and properly maintained. In 2012, 197,000 vehicles were examined at the government vehicle examination centres. In addition, 3,523 spot checks were carried out on franchised buses to determine 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 280,000 vehicle examinations.

All vehicles imported into Hong Kong must be examined to make sure they meet statutory requirements before they can be registered and licensed. In 2012, 873 vehicle types were approved.

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