Letters
Hush the bus
The Hush the Bus campaign is not misguided at all ('Hush', February 23).
It is the only organised medium for bus passengers to air their grievances about bus television. If the government agencies tasked with handling passenger grievances had done their jobs, passengers would not need to use the media to air them. As it is, complainants are usually made to play pinball with the bureaucracy by being referred back and forth between agencies.
The effect loud bus television broadcasts have on passengers should not be underestimated. They force passengers to turn up their personal stereos (disturbingly, the sound may even come through the headphones), talk louder to each other, or talk louder into their cell phones. On minibuses, I have seen drivers miss passengers' requests to alight because their televisions were too loud.
As a result of Hush the Bus' efforts and the collective complaints of passengers who are bothered by loud broadcasts, broadcasts are, on average, a little quieter than before. Kudos to those bus captains who keep their speaker volumes low or mute. No one has been so hooked to bus television as to request that the volume be turned up, only the opposite.
CHOHONG CHOI, Kwun Tong
Stop the campaign
I fully support P. A. Crush in his view that the nuisance of the noise protesting the intrusion of television monitors on Hong Kong buses is greater than the nuisance of the noise emitted by these TVs (February 23).
I too agree that the campaigners' efforts could be put to better use. I propose we instead ask the bus companies to reduce their fares. They are not affordable for the consumer any more.
Also, bus companies should accept sectional fares on the Octopus card. What is the point of those colourful graphics at bus stops outlining the sectional fares? This is outright overcharging.
LAL DASWANI, Tsim Sha Tsui
