Too many buses inefficiently serving Hong Kong's urban areas
I refer to the report, ("Removing old buses saves lives, says study", September 17).
We at KMB would say that it is not only realistic, but also desirable, to remove older buses from Hong Kong's roads. This is not only good for the environment, but also good for our economy.
However, there is a more cost-effective way to do this: remove buses by improving efficiency. While replacing buses is financially costly, pushing efficiency costs nothing, with impact as large (if not larger) than technological upgrades.
The fact is that we have simply too many buses inefficiently serving several urban areas of Hong Kong. For example, in the five districts of Kowloon alone (Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin, Yau Tsim Mong), KMB has nearly 1,000 buses dedicated to serve these areas. Many routes are not only duplicated with the MTR, but also minibus routes and KMB's own routes.
The government is currently working with bus operators to reorganise bus routes for greater efficiency, but the progress is far too slow. With only 5 per cent of the network reorganised after nine months of intense consultation and lobbying work with the districts, it would take over 10 years to complete this exercise if the decision-making after consultations could not be expedited.
Moreover, route reorganisation itself is insufficient to tackle the inefficiencies of road-based public transport.