Ordinary Gweilo

According to the SCMP on Sunday (subscription required), KMB have delayed the withdrawal of non-aircon buses, originally scheduled for this year. 

On a hot morning at the Tsim Sha Tsui bus terminus this week, the driver and passengers on the No5 bus were sweating profusely as the temperature reached 32 degrees Celsius – three degrees higher than outside.

Other buses in the queue were much cooler, because they had air conditioning, but this No5 bus was one of KMB’s 260 non-air-conditioned buses, which were all supposed to be replaced this year.

[..] 

KMB began introducing air-conditioned buses in 1995 and pledged to phase out the old buses from its fleet of 4,021 buses by the end of this year. Yet the company has since postponed the full-replacement for three years, claiming some residents are reluctant to pay the higher fare for the new buses. The 260 old buses have raised concerns about air pollution and fare rises.

Polytechnic University vehicle emission expert Lo Kok-keung said the “hot dog” buses were more polluting than the new buses. Vehicle emission is the main cause of air pollution at street level in Hong Kong.

“All the non-air-conditioned buses are pre-Euro [emission standard] models and manufactured before 1992, [so] the emission is roughly 20 per cent more than the new buses.” Mr Lo said. “Besides, they [the `hot dogs’] are less energy efficient because of the old design.”

Explaining the delay in the fleet’s full replacement, a KMB spokesman said: “We have faced opposition from some district councillors, saying the elderly in some areas find it difficult to accept the fare adjustment. Thus we postponed the progress and expect all buses will be air conditioned in 2010.”

Another concern was cost effectiveness.

Frankly, I doubt that the difference in fares really reflects the cost of providing air conditioning, and if you bear in mind that newer buses should be more fuel efficient (and therefore cheaper to run) the fares are probably something of an anomaly.

It’s a few years since I travelled on a bus without aircon – but there was a time when I used one service occasionally because it took me from door-to-door without any need to change.  

Even in summer, it was just about OK on the top deck as long as the bus kept moving, but buses do have this unfortunate habit of stopping quite frequently (at bus stops, at traffic lights and pretty much everywhere else).  Then, of course, you have to close the windows when going through a tunnel.  All round, not a particularly pleasant experience in hot weather, and we do have a lot of that in Hong Kong.

Is it true that KMB only started introducing aircon buses in 1995?  Surely that can’t be right… 

There is a curious story in the SCMP (subscription required) saying that the government will not allow Green Minibuses to add more seats:

The government refused yesterday to consider allowing green-top minibuses to install more seats in an effort to cut peak-hour congestion, despite claims that the idea had wide support in the community.  The Transport Department said it had no plans for a strategic review of public light bus services as it did not foresee growth in demand because of robust railway development.

But Leung Kong-yui, associate head of the Centre for Logistics and Transport at Hong Kong University SPACE, who made the proposal, said the department was not responsive to calls from the community.

The buses now have 16 seats but have space for 24. If a change were made, it would be the first since the number was increased 20 years ago from 14 to 16.

I am fascinated to know where they were planning to put these extra 8 seats.