Bus firms can't meet Green-zone deadline
Citybus and NWFB have too few double deckers that comply with new, low-emissions rules in Causeway Bay, Central and Mong Kok
Two of the city's three main bus companies have warned that they cannot meet the deadline set in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address when public buses which do not meet low-emissions standards will be banned from Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Central.
New World First Bus and Citybus said they would not be ready in time to hit the end-of-year target as there was "unexpected demand" for low-emissions buses in other areas, while hold-ups in the construction of the MTR South Island Line had hampered route rationalisation plans.
A spokesman for both Citybus and NWFB added that they should be able to comply in the first quarter of 2016 by modifying the engines on some of its older buses. "Following discussions with the government, we are speeding up the installation of selective catalytic converters."
KMB has estimated that it can complete deployment of its low-emissions buses within the zones by the end-of-year deadline.
According to figures from just four months ago, out of the 5,529 buses owned by KMB, Citybus, and First Bus, only 1,705 of them - 30 per cent - met the Euro IV standards required in the low-emissions zones announced in Leung's speech last month.
With their buses accounting for about 40 per cent of the traffic volume in Central, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, environmental officials believe that the policy would cut emissions of dangerous respirable suspended particulates and nitrogen oxides by 20 and 30 per cent, respectively.