Cheung Chau residents won’t get special ferry queue during bun festival attended by thousands

Residents of Cheung Chau will have to fall in with the rest of the crowd during the island's annual bun festival this weekend and next week after the Transport Department said yesterday a hasty plan for a proposed separate queue could cause order and safety problems.

The bun-scrambling competition on Monday night is a highlight of the Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival, during which tens of thousands of visitors flock to the tiny island each year, but the bun festival starts on Friday and ferries are expected to be packed through the weekend.

After Cheung Chau residents were inconvenienced by crowds over Easter, New World First Ferry said it would begin reserving 80 to 100 seats on its boats for islanders during crowded holidays. But it said at that time it might not be able to do so for the bun festival.

The department has since received many suggestions on how to set up a residents-first queue at the pier in Central, chief transport officer for planning and ferry review Kwong Ka-yin said.

But such an approach could do more harm than good, Kwong said. A hurried plan might cause problems in validating those eligible for priority boarding, while visitors would need time to adjust to the new arrangements, he said.

"The department will have to examine the different suggestions and be careful in the decision-making … We've decided not to do it this year," he said.