I refer to the letter 'Towards cleaner buses' (October 1) from Tony Lee of the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau. He was responding to my letters recommending that the government legislate to make bus companies use clean natural gas or hybrid diesel-electric, instead of the current cancerous, filthy, particulate-producing diesel.
On hybrid vehicles, Mr Lee says 'most hybrid electric-diesel buses are available mainly in single-decker models', that 'the local hilly terrain and the need for air-conditioning present practical challenges' and 'We are monitoring closely the worldwide development of environmentally friendly buses'.
Mr Lee, we taxpayers pay your department to do more than monitor. Are you contacting the bus manufacturers, asking them to make buses that are suitable for Hong Kong? Other cities' buses also need air-con and the ability to go up hills. Other cities also use clean hybrid technology. The perfect bus will not suddenly jump out at us - the government needs to actively seek it. Local bus companies will protect their profits and not order these buses by themselves. Why not try some single-deck hybrid buses in suitable areas at first, until the full-size models come on stream?
Use some creative thinking. Take the bull by the horns.
Mr Lee fails to mention the bus companies' timetable for phasing out their older, dirtier models. He says that 'We have asked the franchised bus companies to retrofit diesel oxidation catalysts to all pre-Euro or Euro I buses and the retrofit programme was completed in 2003.'
Does this mean they comply with the same pollution standards as the new buses hitting the road. Clearly not. Recently I got covered in black smoke by a non-aircon Leyland KMB bus that seemed at least 20 years old and an ageing Citybus. Is the department pressing the companies to quickly get these dinosaurs off our road? They belong to another era.
