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Transport

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 gaps which cannot be met by regular public transport and provide tailor-made services to specific groups of passengers. They serve mainly tourists, estate residents, employees and students. At 31 December, there were 7,194 registered non-franchised public buses.

Public Light Buses

The number of public light buses (PLBs) has been capped at 4,350 since 1976. These vehicles handle 1.3 million passenger trips per day.

There are two types of PLBs: green minibuses (GMBs) and red minibuses (RMBs). GMBs provide scheduled services with fixed routes, fares, vehicle allocation and timetables as stipulated by the Transport Department. At 31 December, 3,341 GMBS were operating 360 routes, recording a daily average of 1,116,200 passenger trips. RMBS are not required to operate on fixed routes or timetables and may set their own fares but have limited operating areas. There were 1,009 RMBs in operation at 31 December, recording a daily average of 183,300 passenger trips.

Taxis

At 31 December, there were 15,250 red urban taxis, 2,838 green New Territories taxis and 75 blue Lantau taxis. These carried about 660,000 passengers per day in 2020. There were about 790 taxi stands and designated taxi pick-up/drop-off points.

Private Cars

At the year end, there were 573,003 licensed private cars, of which 37,036 were new vehicles first registered during 2020.

Road Transport Management

Effective transport management is essential for the safe and orderly operation of the transport system. Modern technology is used in a variety of ways to enhance transport management.

Licensing

At 31 December, there were 2,314,981 licensed drivers, 796,154 licensed private vehicles and 6,544 government vehicles. The licensed private vehicles comprised 65,547 motorcycles and motor tricycles, 573,003 private cars, 18,084 taxis, 12,873 public buses, 729 private buses, 4,267 PLBs, 3,501 private light buses, 74,275 light goods vehicles, 35,380 medium goods vehicles, 6,634 heavy goods vehicles and 1,861 special purpose vehicles. On average, 4,322 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. In 2020, about 20,500 people attended the course, about 19,300 of whom on a

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