Archive:Hong Kong Mass Transport Study/Appendix A

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Chapter 12 — Further Planning and Development

Hong Kong Mass Transport Study Appendix A

Appendix B

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APPENDIX A

EXISTING TRANSPORT

1. A large amount of information about existing public transport has been gathered and tabulated. The most important is summarised in Chapter 2 of this report. This appendix contains some additional text on operating characteristics and some additional tabulations of transport data.

OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

2. The seven scheduled public transport undertakings operate 1,764 passenger vehicles on 121 routes, covering 782 one-way route miles, of which 592 miles are on land and 190 miles over water. Approximately 81 per cent of the passengers are carried by the three bus and tram companies, 18 per cent by the two ferry companies and I per cent by the Kowloon-Canton Railway and the Peak Tram.
3. Kowloon Motor Bus Company — This company operates two distinct types of service. The principal one is an urban service within the 15.5 square mile area of Kowloon, and the other is a suburban service between Kowloon and the various points in the New Territories, as well as between points within the latter. Table A-1 sum marises the character of this operation. It shows that within the urban area 70 per cent of its buses and 62 per cent of its miles of service were employed to accommodate 88 per cent of its total passengers.

4. A detailed study and analysis was made of each of the 64 routes of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company. The average length of urban routes is 4.3 miles, the longest route being 7.5 and the shortest 1.1 miles. The highest percentage of the total passengers carried on any single route is 4.7 per cent on the Jordan Road Ferry-Lai Chi Kok Line. The number of revenue passengers per mile ranges from a high of 33.3 on the short Chuk Yuen-Tsz Wan Shan Line to a low of 9.1 passengers per mile on the Star Ferry-Yau Yat Tsuen route.
5. The average length of the New Territories routes is 10 miles. The 11 routes which operate between urban Kowloon and the New Territories are longer, averaging nearly 15 miles, while the services operating between points within the New Territories average 6 miles. The longest single route is between Jordan Road Ferry and Yuen Long, a distance of 25 miles. The shortest of the urban-suburban lines is the 6.4-mile Sham Shui Po Ferry-Tsuen Wan Ferry route.
6. One of the factors which reduces the productivity of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company's services in the New Territories is the large number of New Territories "taxicabs" and "dual-purpose vehicles" operating competitive services. While these reach certain areas and perform some types of service not provided by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company, a large part of the operation is directly competitive. The New Territories' "taxicabs" and "dual-purpose vehicles" do not pay 20 per cent of their gross revenues to the Hong Kong Government as royalties, as does the Kowloon Motor Bus Company.
7. China Motor Bus Company — China Motor Bus Company is, on the basis of gross revenue and number of passengers, the second largest transport undertaking in Hong Kong. It operates in the 13.5 square mile urban area of Hong Kong Island, and between the urban and suburban areas of the Island. Table A-2 summarises the different types of operation. The 14 routes which serve the urban area cover 88.5 per cent of the total passenger movement and utilise over 80 per cent of the buses and bus miles. Another seven routes connecting the urban and suburban areas account for 9.5 per cent of the total passengers, but require 18 per cent of the total bus miles. Three short routes operate wholly within the suburban area and amount to approximately two per cent of the total operation. This company also has five routes on which partial or occasional services are operated, but these are a negligible part of their total operations.

8. A detailed analysis of each of the routes was made. The average lengths of the urban routes is 4.1 miles and of the urban-suburban routes 6.1 miles. The suburban routes average less than three miles each. The longest urban route is Cleverly Street-Shau Kei Wan, which is 6.4 miles in length and substantially parallels the tram line.
9. Hong Kong Tramways Company Limited — The Hong Kong Tramways Company's operation, which began in 1902, consists of three short routes wholly within the urban area. These lines operate on an overlapping basis between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with one branch going around the Happy Valley race course. The tram routes serve the most densely populated section of the city. On an average day, 157 of the company's 162 motor cars operate during the peak hours and approximately 150 during the mid-day. As shown in Table A-3 the number of passengers per car mile is approximately 25. This extremely high figure is indicative of full loading throughout the day, and a frequent turnover of passengers.

10. Peak Tramways Company Limited — The oldest of the existing scheduled public transport services is the Peak Tramway, which is a funicular railway operating up the northern slope of Victoria Peak, a distance of 0.8 miles. This service was begun in May, 1888, and made possible the development of the Peak and mid-level districts as residential areas. The elevation at the lower (Garden Road) station is 80 feet above sea level, and the upper station (Victoria Gap) is 1,305 feet. The steepest part of the track has a gradient of 1 in 2.
11. This unusual incline railway is an integral and important part of the public transport service, even though its lower station is a quarter-mile uphill from the central city and from other transport lines. One of Hong Kong's best known tourist attractions, it is used by large number of tourists and sightseers every day. While roads are now available for travel to the peak by private car or bus, the road distance between the upper and lower Peak Tram stations is more than three miles as compared to less than one mile on the Peak Tram route.
12. Because of the single cable system on which it operates, no more than two cars can be used. However, through operation of its "fast" service, its capacity can be expanded greatly above its present average loading. This can be done by increasing the speed of the engine and by reducing the time in stations at each end. The "fast" operation increases the average operating speed from 3.3 to 6.7 miles per hour.
13. In 1965 the average number of daily passengers was 5,600 and 16,200 passengers were accommodated in 19 hours on the maximum day. The operating characteristics of the Peak Tram are shown in Table A-4.

14. Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company — In terms of passengers carried, the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company is the fourth largest public transport organisation. It operates 11 cross-harbour passenger routes and 10 routes to outlying areas. Two of the cross-harbour services are vehicular ferries but a substantial number of riders are carried on these, both as passengers in cars and goods vehicles and on the passenger decks. The cross-harbour lines comprise a total of 23 one-way route miles, the shortest route being 1.4 miles and the longest being 3.1 miles. The Jubilee Street-Jordan Road Ferry operates at nine minute intervals, and all other lines run on a 10-minute headway except the Wilmer Street-Sham Shui Po route, which has a basic headway of 12 minutes. The average running speed of the cross-harbour ferries is 8.7 miles per hour, ranging from a low of 6.9 to a high of 9.5. The ferries which traverse the most crowded sections of the harbour at right angles to heavy shipping movements operate at the slowest speeds.
15. As shown in Table A-5 the 11 cross-harbour routes account for 95.5 per cent of the total passengers carried by this company. The cross-harbour lines average 180 passengers on each one-way trip, ranging from 272 to 36 per trip. Archive:Hong Kong Mass Transport Study/Table A-5
16. The 10 routes to the outlying areas, which accommodate the remaining 4.5 per. cent of the Yaumati Ferry traffic, average 16 miles, the shortest route being the Tsuen Wan service of 7.5 miles and the longest being the two Tai O services of 32.8 and 28.6 one-way route miles. Service frequency on the Tsuen Wan route is 30 minutes and on all the other routes from 2 to 22 trips per day. Some of the outlying ferry routes average slightly over 10 miles per hour and the average speed for all these routes is 8.3 miles per hour. The number of passengers per trip on the outlying services is much lower than on the cross-harbour lines, and average 122 per one-way trip, with a high of 206 to a low of 13.
17. Ferry vessels seating an average of 650 persons are normally used within the harbour limits, while smaller vessels averaging 360 seats each are licensed for use in the outlying district services. Because of the difference in vehicle size, the numbers of passengers per vehicle mile or per trip are not comparable between the two areas. However, the figures do indicate the relative utilisation and revenue productivity of the urban cross-harbour services and the outlying routes. The cross-harbour routes averaged 86 passengers per vehicle mile, while the lines to the outlying areas averaged only 12. The highest number of cross-harbour passengers per mile was 181 on the Jubilee Street-Jordan Road passenger route while the highest on the outlying area services was 18 per mile on the Tsuen Wan Line.
18. Apportionments of revenues and expenses of the vehicular, cross-harbour and outlying district passenger ferry services indicate that the latter are operated at a substantial deficit. During 1964, receipts from the outlying district ferries, including an apportionment of miscellaneous revenues, amounted to $3.9 million, while operating expenses exclusive of royalties and profits taxes, amounted to approximately $5.5 million. While constituting an important service to the public, and one which will become increasingly essential in the future, a large part of the cost of operating the outlying ferry services is presently being paid out of revenues from the more profitable vehicular and cross-harbour lines.
19. Star Ferry Company — The Star Ferry Company operates two passenger ferry services between Central District and Kowloon. Its principal, and until 1965 its only route was between Edinburgh Place and Tsim Sha Tsui. This is the shortest and most direct water connection between the central areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. This 0.8 mile route runs at 2.5 to 5 minute intervals, and is the most heavily patronised of all ferry routes, averaging 507 passengers per one-way trip.
20. Star Ferry Company's second route, a 2.1 mile service between Edinburgh Place and Hung Hom, was instituted in August 1965. This line offers 7 to 12 minute headways, and averaged 221 passengers per one-way trip as shown in Table A-6. The Hung Hom Line carries about 15 per cent of Star Ferry Company's passengers.

21. On May 2nd, 1966, the Government authorised the Star Ferry to put into effect the first fare rise in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. The increase, however, was limited to first-class cash and monthly ticket fares. The second class, children's and students' rates remained unchanged. As a result, a substantial number of passengers shifted to the second-class deck for which the fare remained at 10 cents. Surveys made by the Passenger Transport Survey Unit indicate that 54 per cent of the passengers used first-class accommodations before the fare rise: lmmediately after the fare rise this proportion dropped to 39 per cent, 10 months later rising to nearly 41 per cent. Total patronage in the first 10 months after the fare rise declined by 1.0 per cent on all services; 3.3 per cent on the Hung Hom route, but only 0.6 per cent on the main Tsim Sha Tsui Line. Because of the shift of passengers to second class the average fare remained at the same level of about 15 cents per passenger.
22. Kowloon-Canton Railway — Although the Government railway accounts for less than one per cent of the total passenger transport movement within the Colony, its facilities and services are an important component of the transportation system.
23. Kowloon-Canton Railway passenger trains serve both as a local suburban commuter line within the Colony, and as a link with the Chinese railway system to Canton and thence over the entire mainland China intercity railway system. No through passenger trains, however, operate across the Chinese border, and international passengers walk from the Lo Wu terminus of the British section across the international border, to board Chinese Railway trains.
24. More than 90 per cent of the passengers handled by the Kowloon-Canton Railway are local commuters between Kowloon and various stations in the New Territories. Since both classes of passengers are handled on the same trains it is not possible to evaluate the car mile-passenger ratios separately for the internal commuters. Of the 9,447,000 annual passengers in the 12 months ending 31 March 1966, 91 1,100 or 9.6 per cent, represent passengers to or from the border station at Lo Wu. Some of these are passengers to Lo Wu only and do not cross the border.
25. The 22-mile route of the British section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway used 70 passenger carriages and operated 2,956,000 passenger car miles in the year ending 31 March 1966 as shown in Table A-7. Since riding between the two stations within urban Kowloon is negligible, the railway services are utilised primarily for travel between Kowloon and suburban stations in the New Territories.

26. Third-class passengers, who travel at one half the first class rate, constitute 68 per cent of all railway passengers. Students, the second largest group, are 20 per cent. The remaining 12 per cent, in order of importance, are second-class riders, first-class riders and special ticket holders.
27. While accounting for only 21 per cent of the Railway's train mileage, goods trains produce 47 per cent of its gross revenue, and all the net profit, since passenger services operate at a small loss. The goods train services, bringing in food and other commodities from China, are of vital importance to the Colony and its commerce. Since both operate over the same single track line, goods trains limit the expansion of the passenger services.
28. The track and roadway facilities consist of 22 miles of main line operating track, 7 miles of station sidings and spurs, 2 miles of goods yard and customer sidings, and 3.5 miles of yard and workshop sidings, making a total of 34.5 miles of single track. Five miles of the main line are within urban Kowloon. Two miles of the line are in tunnel. The track is standard 4-foot 8.5-inch gauge, with 95-pound rail. Of a total of 22 road intersections, 7 are level crossings and the remaining 15 are separated from the motor roadway level.