We refer to the letter from Eric Wong Wang-kin, Ma On Shan (South China Morning Post, January 14), with regard to his suggestion to deploy air-conditioned buses to Route No 85M which operates via Tate's Cairn Tunnel. We realise that the air quality inside tunnels in Hong Kong is not always desirable and our priority is to increase the number of air-conditioned buses for tunnel bus services and long-distance services. We are pleased to inform that we will convert all buses of the said route to air-conditioned services in the first quarter of 1998. There are 11 KMB bus routes (except cross harbour tunnel routes and special morning departures) passing through Tate's Cairn Tunnel, of which six routes (ie, Route No 74X, 75X, 82X, 85C, 89C and 89D) operate air-conditioned service. In addition to Route No 85M, four other routes with mixed bus types, namely Route No 80X, 83X, 84M and 89X will also be converted to air-conditioned service in this year. Hence, by the end of 1998, all KMB bus routes except cross-tunnel routes operating via Tate's Cairn Tunnel will utilise air-conditioned buses. AMANDA LUI KMB Public Relations
