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Nick Gentle

Operator challenges 32-year-old limits on number of seats in each vehicle
A 32-year-old government restriction on the number of minibuses allowed on Hong Kong streets is unfair and should be reviewed, according to one of the industry's larger operators.
Wong Man-kit, who started driving minibuses part time in 1969, currently owns and operates about 330 of the vehicles through his company Glory Success Transportation.
All but 30 of the buses are green, regulated  vehicles.
The remaining ones are red, unregulated buses, that are leased to drivers on a daily basis.
Mr Wong has won permission to proceed with a judicial review of a  2006 decision by the Legislative Council to extend for five years the limit of 4,350 buses that was first set down in 1976. The buses are limited to 16 seats.
'It is unfair,' Mr Wong said. 'The population and the size of the city have grown so much in the last 30 years yet there has been no change to the limit. All I actually want to do is put more seats in the vehicles. The same vehicles I have now can take up to 24 seats.'
The government has a  policy of keeping the limit in place because of concerns about congestion and pollution and its preference for  rail and franchised buses.
'That is nonsense,' Mr Wong said, whose fleet carries  more than 150,000 people a day.
'If we can put more seats in then we can carry the same amount of people with  fewer trips, which is better for the environment.'
The extension was passed  without consultation with stakeholders, Mr Wong said.
It is believed to be the first time  someone has sought to judicially review a Legco resolution.
Economist Timothy Hau Doe-kwong of the University of Hong Kong  said minibuses offered  a valuable service.
'They do help soak up demand because they do not have the same level of regulation on fares and routes,' Professor Hau said.  '[But] the government has mixed feelings about them.'
He cited the  poor driving  of some - particularly red - minibus drivers  as well as congestion, noise and pollution.
The government wants  to  convert red bus licences into regulated green permits.
But while green minibuses now account for about two-thirds of the fleet, they  carry three-quarters of the passengers.
Professor Hau  cautioned against expanding the numbers to meet demand  before new rail projects came on line.
'Once you give something it is very difficult to take it away. Operators will be against reductions as will passengers who have got used to the services.'
Keith Griffiths,  chairman of architecture giant Aedas,  said the real need was for  rapid rail development.
'In a very dense city like Hong Kong, railways are the obvious way to move people about,' Mr Griffiths said. 'You need large amounts of patronage to justify stations, but that is very easily achieved in Hong Kong.'
Ideally,  few people would live more than 500 metres from a  station.
'We only rely on these buses because we have not created a proper underground transport system,' Mr Griffiths said.
The problem was cost, he said. While the MTR Corporation had to pay for  its own infrastructure,  drivers had roads  built for them by the government - a form of subsidy.
'If rail got the same subsidies as the roads, you would see far higher levels of investment in that sector.'
Professor Hau said: 'Road pricing would take into account the externalities such as the pollution and congestion.
'Then you can let the chips fall where they may and you will eventually end up with the right types of vehicles being used in the areas where they are truly needed.'



Push to review rules on minibuses