I refer to Georgina Wong's letter headlined, 'New lay-by not helping' (South China Morning Post, February 14). The new Ngau Chi Wan public transport terminus at Clear Water Bay Road eastbound mainly serves two purposes. In addition to providing proper off-street stopping facilities to cope with the public transport development in the area, it also helps to alleviate the traffic congestion problem caused by irregular kerbside activities of public transport operators, mainly urban taxis and public lights buses, along this section of Clear Water Bay Road eastbound near Ngau Chi Wan pumping station. The public transport terminus consists of five departure bays of between 15 and 25 metres and was opened for public use on November 22 last year. At present, it is fully occupied by urban taxis, red minibuses and three en-route green minibus routes, with an average utilisation of more than 900 trips per day. As I have already said, this public transport terminus is mainly designed for the operation of minibuses and taxis. It is not suitable for large capacity buses that are more than 10 metres in length. Nevertheless, the relocation of the minibus and taxi activities off-street from Clear Water Bay Road has spared more road spaces for buses and other road users. This has also led to an improvement in traffic conditions and enhanced the efficiency of bus operations along this section of Clear Water Bay Road. The traffic situation along Clear Water Bay Road and the public transport operation inside the Ngau Chi Wan public transport terminus, will be closely monitored and improvement measures will be introduced where appropriate. TOMMY NG for Commissioner for Transport
