Minutes of the 6th Meeting in 2017 of the Traffic and Transport Committee of District Council

Date: 10 November 2017 (Friday) Time: 2:36 p.m. – 6:53 p.m. Venue: Conference Room, Council (“TPDC”)

Present Time of Arrival Time of Withdrawal Chairman Dr. LAU Chee-sing Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting

Vice-chairman Mr. WOO Kin-man, Clement Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting

Members Mr. AU Chun-wah Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. CHAN Cho-leung, MH Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen, MH, JP Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. KWAN Wing-yip Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. LAU Yung-wai Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. LI Kwok-ying, BBS, MH, JP Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. LI Wah-kwong, Rex Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. LI Yiu-ban, BBS, MH, JP Beginning of the meeting 5:57 p.m. Mr. LO Hiu-fung Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. TAM Wing-fun, Eric, MH 2:47 p.m. 6:30 p.m. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu, BBS, MH, JP Beginning of the meeting 6:49 p.m. Mr. YAM Kai-bong, Francis Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. YAM Man-chuen 2:44 p.m. End of the meeting Mr. YU Chi-wing, Ken Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting

Co-opted Members Mr. AU Chun-ho Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. CHAN Hoi-wing 2:52 p.m. 6:04 p.m. Mr. CHEUNG Kwok-wah Beginning of the meeting 5:06 p.m. Mr. LAU Chung-hon Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting - 2 -

Mr. TSANG Hon-man Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Mr. MUI Siu-fung Beginning of the meeting 6:03 p.m. Mr. WAN Hing-choy Beginning of the meeting 5:51 p.m.

Secretary Mr. LEUNG Chung-wa, Alvin Beginning of the meeting End of the meeting Executive Officer (District Council) 1 / Tai Po District Office (“TPDO”) / Home Affairs Department (“HAD”)

In Attendance

Ms. LEE Kai-ying, Iris Assistant District Officer (Tai Po) / TPDO / HAD Ms. MAK Pui-yan Engineer / 47 ( East) / Civil Engineering and Development Department (“CEDD”) Mr. CHAN Yau-yau, Leo Senior Transport Officer (Tai Po) / Transport Department (“TD”) Mr. WONG Kin-nam, Kenny Engineer / Tai Po 1 / TD Mr. WONG Chi-hin, Andrew Engineer / Tai Po 3 / TD Mr. HUI Ka-kit District Engineer / Tai Po / (“HyD”) Mr. CHAN Wing-yiu, Ronald Administrative Assistant / Lands (Acting) / District Lands Office, Tai Po (“TPDLO”) / Lands Department (“Lands D”) Mr. YEUNG Chiu-tim, Louis Assistant Housing Manager / Tai Po District Tenancy Management Office / Housing Department Mr. TSUI Yik-fuk Head, Traffic Wing (Tai Po Police District) / Police Force (“HKPF”) Mr. LEUNG Man-tik Assistant Public Relations Manager (External Affairs) / MTR Corporation Limited (“MTR”) Mr. WONG Tsz-kin Assistant Manager (Operations), Shatin Depot / Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (“KMB”) Ms. LEUNG Ka-yan Assistant Manager / Communications and Public Affairs Department / KMB Mr. LEE Shut-hang, Imgmar Senior Officer (Planning and Development) / KMB Mr. POON Chun-kong Assistant Manager (Bus Operations) / Long Win Bus Company Limited (“Long Win”) Mr. LEE Yu-sau, Terence Senior Executive Officer (District Council) / TPDO / HAD Ms. WONG Yu-hang, Anita Senior Liaison Officer (2) / TPDO / HAD

- 3 -

Applicant for absence

Mr. TANG Ming-tai, Patrick

Absent

Mr. MO Ka-hung

Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed Members and departmental representatives to the meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee (“TTC”) and announced the following:

(i) Mr. CHENG Wai had been absent from three consecutive meetings without the TTC’s consent. Pursuant to Order 34(5) of the TPDC Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”), he had lost his Co-opted Membership by default. (ii) Mr. TANG Ming-tai, Patrick was unable to attend the meeting due to other commitments. He had submitted his notice of absence to the Secretariat. Pursuant to Order 51(1) of the Standing Orders, the TTC would only give consent to a Member’s application for absence from meeting filed on grounds of sickness (including sickness due to pregnancy), jury service, attendance at another meeting / activity on behalf of the District Council (“DC”), attendance at a Legislative Council (“LegCo”) / Executive Council meeting, confinement or paternity leave. Pursuant to the above requirements, he application was not approved.

I. Confirmation of the minutes of the 5th meeting of the TTC in 2017 on 15 September 2017 (TPDC Paper No. TT 60/2017)

2. The Chairman said that as the Secretariat did not receive any proposed amendments and there were no amendments submitted by Members at the meeting, the above minutes had been confirmed and no amendments were necessary.

II. Demand to increase minibus-Mass Transit Railway (“MTR”) interchange discount in Tai Po (TPDC Paper No. TT 61/2017)

3. The Chairman said that the Secretariat earlier received four letters jointly signed by Mr. - 4 -

CHEUNG Hok-ming, Ms. WONG Pik-kiu, Mr. LI Kwok-ying, Mr. CHENG Chun-ping, Mr. TAM Wing-fun, Eric, Mr. WOO Kin-man, Clement, Mr. MUI Siu-fung, Mr. CHUNG Man-fai, Mr. CHAN Wai-hung, Mr. WONG Kwok-wai and Mr. WU Cheuk-him, which had been set out in TPDC Papers No. TT 61/2017 to TT 64/2017. The TTC would deal with these four issues separately in four agenda items.

4. Mr. MUI Siu-fung introduced TPDC Paper No. TT 61/2017.

5. Mr. CHAN Yau-yau, Leo said that the Government and MTR Corporation Limited (“MTR”) announced the results of the review on the MTR’s Fare Adjustment Mechanism in March 2017. Among which, the MTR said that it would provide an interchange discount for all green minibuses routes (including green minibus routes in Tai Po District). Interchange between green minibus and the MTR in either way would be offered an interchange discount of $0.3 per trip. For the routes that were offering an interchange discount of more than $0.3 per trip, the arrangement would remain unchanged.

6. Mr. MUI Siu-fung said that the KMB and green minibus operators on Hong Kong Island had offered an interchange discount of $1. He hoped that the TD and the MTR would consider raising the MTR-minibus interchange discount from $0.3 to $1 per trip so as to alleviate the transportation cost burden of members of the public.

7. Mr. Leo CHAN noted the views of Members. He added that the MTR was currently discussing the details with various green minibus operators which would be announced later. It was expected that a new interchange discount would be launched in the second quarter of 2018.

III. Concerns about the unduly long working hours of bus drivers (TPDC Paper No. TT 62/2017)

8. Mr. Clement WOO, the Vice-chairman, introduced the captioned paper.

9. Mr. Leo CHAN said that the current version of the Guidelines on Bus Captain Working Hours, Rest Times and Meal Breaks (“Guidelines”) was implemented following a review by the TD, franchised bus companies and trade unions for bus drivers (“trade unions”) and upon consultation with the LegCo’s Panel on Transport. He said that the Government was currently reviewing the content of the Guidelines and had had several meetings with representatives of the trade unions and franchised bus companies to listen to their views and concerns. During the meetings with the trade unions, the department listened to their recommendations on ways to improve the Guidelines and other matters. Later, during the meetings with the bus companies, the bus companies agreed that there was room for improvement regarding the requirements on bus drivers’ working hours set out in the current guidelines, and that they were willing to further - 5 -

discuss on the issue.

10. Ms. LEUNG Ka-yan said that the KMB was highly concerned with the driving safety and drivers’ rest time and had always complied with the requirements of the Guidelines. While the TD was currently reviewing the Guidelines, the KMB was closely communicating with the department and stakeholders to proactively co-operate with the department in its review work. Moreover, the KMB would also continue to optimise the rest facilities for drivers to ensure that their occupational safety and health was safeguarded.

IV. Demand to carry out studies on new trunk roads to relieve the burden of Tolo (TPDC Paper No. TT 63/2017)

11. Mr. Clement WOO, the Vice-chairman, introduced the captioned paper. He said that Tolo Highway was the trunk road to and from Kowloon for residents of Tai Po District and North District. Whenever there was traffic accident during peak hours, Tolo Highway would become heavily congested. In addition, quite a few public and private development projects would be completed in Tai Po District. Coupled with the North East New Territories Development, the Liantang Boundary Control Point and other projects, the population and traffic flow would definitely increase. However, the Government had no plans to optimise the existing facilities of Tolo Highway. Even though the widening of ( Section) would commence soon, it could not resolve the traffic congestion as the number of vehicles kept increasing. Therefore, he hoped that the Government would proactively consider building a new trunk road connecting Tai Po and Kowloon to relieve the burden of Tolo Highway.

12. The Chairman said that the Secretariat received a letter jointly signed by Mr. KWAN Wing-yip, Mr. YAM Kai-bong, Francis, Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai, Mr. AU Chun-wah, Mr. YAM Man-chuen and Mr. LAU Yung-wai prior to the meeting, demanding an immediate study to be carried out as regards the building of a new trunk road to improve the traffic congestion problem between Tai Po and Kowloon. Please refer to Annex I for details.

13. Mr. AU Chun-wah introduced Annex I. He said that there were often delays and breakdowns of trains on the MTR . Moreover, there were often big and small accidents on Tolo Highway in recent years, and the serious ones could paralyse the traffic. If train issues and traffic accidents happened at the same time, there would be no alternative routes to Kowloon other than travelling through and . In addition, the future development of North East New Territories and would bring about a lot of population, thus increasing the traffic of Tolo Highway to its maximum capacity. However, according to “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030”, the Government had neither carried out any study on the congestion problem of Tolo Highway, nor provided any solution to relieve the traffic of Tolo Highway. He said that as conducting studies - 6 - would take time, he hoped that the Government would study the solutions to improve and relieve the traffic as soon as possible. Otherwise, there would be no improvement measures in the next 20 years.

14. Mr. WONG Chi-hin, Andrew responded as follows:

(i) If no accident occurred, the capacity of Tolo Highway would be sufficient to cope with the current traffic flow, and the situation was acceptable.

(ii) The number of lanes along the section of Tolo Highway near Yuen Chau Tsai had been increased from three to four around three or four years ago. Before carrying out the widening project, the department had conducted the traffic assessment concerned to ensure that the widened carriageway could cope with the traffic flow if no accident occurred. (iii) Building a new trunk road connecting Tai Po and Kowloon involved population estimation, where factors to be considered included the increase in population in North District, population change in the nearby districts and the development of railway, etc. Also, widening the existing roads or improving the facilities on Tolo Highway alone could not resolve the problems. Since it was a long-term solution, he would discuss with the relevant teams of the TD after the meeting. (iv) The TD, the HyD, the CEDD and other works departments would widen Tai Po Road as a mid-term solution. He believed that the measures concerned would help improve the traffic between Tai Po and Kowloon. (v) As regards the proposal of setting up a bus lane on Tolo Highway, the Government had earlier commissioned a consultancy to conduct a Public Transport Strategy Study which stated, among others, that setting up a bus lane would increase the burden of other non-bus lanes, thus giving rise to more serious traffic congestion. Moreover, there were many slip roads and exits along Tolo Highway. If a bus lane had been set up, other vehicles would have to cut into the slow lane (i.e. the bus lane) before the exits so as to leave via the exits. As such, in light of the technical and traffic safety considerations, the department opined that it was inappropriate to set up a bus lane on Tolo Highway. (vi) The TD had examined the causes of traffic accidents at different sections of Tolo Highway and put forward a road improvement proposal. Please refer to the drawing concerned in Annex 2. He pointed out that the section of Kowloon bound Tolo Highway near Yuen Chau Tsai was where all the traffic flow converged, where vehicles entering that road section from North District, Yuen Shin Road and Kwong Fuk Estate would cut into other lanes early. As such, the department proposed painting double white lines in certain sections so as to reduce the likelihood of accidents. - 7 -

15. The Chairman said that quite a few traffic accidents occurred on Tolo Highway in October this year, where over half of them occurred during the morning peak hours resulting in traffic congestion. He hoped that the TD would study the causes of the accidents with the HKPF. If the accidents were related to the design of Tolo Highway, he would like the department to carry out improvement measures accordingly.

16. Mr. Francis YAM’s comments were as follows:

(i) A number of Members agreed that apart from Tolo Highway, the Government should build a new trunk road connecting Tai Po and Kowloon. (ii) The TD opined that the capacity of Tolo Highway was sufficient to cope with the existing traffic flow. However, there was congestion at the section of Kowloon bound Tolo Highway near the Racecourse or Sewage Treatment Works during the morning peak hours every day, as the area was the bottleneck of Tate’s Cairn Tunnel, Lion Rock Tunnel, and Route 8 Tunnel. (iii) Improving the facilities on Tolo Highway (such as painting double white lines) could reduce the number of accidents to a certain extent, but could definitely not resolve the traffic flow problem. (iv) The current population of Tai Po District was about 310 000. After the public housing projects and several private housing development projects in Area 9 of Tai Po had been completed, it was conservatively estimated that the population would increase by 40 000 to 50 000. Moreover, the current population of North District was about 300 000, and the Planning Department estimated that the development projects in Queen’s Hill, Ma Shi Po and Kwu Tung would further increase the population of North District by 170 000. Excluding the North East New Territories Development, over 1 million people had to travel along Tolo Highway to the urban area. As such, it was necessary to build a new trunk road to facilitate the residents’ commute to and from the urban area. (v) He had proposed building a tunnel or trunk road in Tai Po or North District directly connecting with Route 8 and bypassing Tolo Highway. (vi) Widening Tolo Highway on a continued basis would only lead to traffic congestion at the bottleneck area in Sha Tin, and widening Tai Po Road (Sha Tin Section) at present was not a long-term solution. As such, he hoped that the future discussions would focus on building a new trunk road and suggested using it as the discussion item at the meeting-cum-luncheon with LegCo Members on 26 January 2018.

- 8 -

17. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu’s comments were as follows:

(i) There were often accidents and congestions on Tolo Highway. As such, when she was in a hurry, she would drive to Fan Kam Road to go to places like Wan Chai and Tsuen Wan through Route 3. (ii) She supported the road improvement measures set out in Annex II. She said that extending the double white lines could help reduce accidents caused by cutting lanes recklessly. Moreover, according to the drawing in Annex II, drivers could switch to the right lane at location RM1003. However, as the double white lines of the fast lane ended right there, if a vehicle would like to switch to the left lane from the fast lane at that location, accident might occur. Therefore, she suggested the department put up road signs to remind drivers to pick his lane and stay in lane, etc. She added that if an accident occurred at that location, it would lead to serious congestion. (iii) When considering whether to set up a bus lane, statistics had to be compiled as regards the number of bus routes and bus trips that could use the bus lane during the peak hours. Take route 73X as an example, it would be difficult for the bus drivers to switch from the bus lane to the fast lane towards Shing Mun Tunnels. Therefore, while setting up a bus lane might make the bus services more reliable, it had certain difficulties in terms of actual operation.

18. Mr. AU Chun-wah’s comments were as follows:

(i) Traffic planning could not be completed in a short period of time. However, the Government lacked vision in terms of planning. He pointed out that as the construction, planning and development in North District and Sha Tin District had been confirmed and would lead to a substantial increase in population, why the Government had not launched any study on the construction of a new trunk road. (ii) He opined that a visionary Government should provide solutions quickly before any problems emerged. If the Government intended to improve the existing facilities on Tolo Highway in a piecemeal manner so as to resolve the population boom in future, it would be absolutely impractical. (iii) The TD said that the capacity of Tolo Highway was sufficient to cope with the traffic flow if no accident occurred. But the reality was, there were often accidents on Tolo Highway which had led to serious congestion, which was totally unacceptable to the residents of Tai Po District and North District. (iv) As many residents were worried that congestions on Tolo Highway would be way too lengthy, they had no choice but to leave home half an hour or even an hour earlier so as to arrive at work on time. - 9 -

(v) The widening projects of Tolo Highway and Tai Po Road were unable to resolve the congestions caused by traffic accidents during peak hours, not to mention what would happen when the MTR broke down. (vi) Trains on the MTR East Rail Line would be reduced from 12 cars to 9 after the commissioning of the Shatin to Central Link (“SCL”). While the MTR had said that the upgrading of signalling systems would help increase the total carrying capacity, the MTR’s calculation had neither deducted the carrying capacity of the first class compartments nor taken into account factors such as the future population growth in North East New Territories. (vii) Although the department was of the opinion that the MTR’s East West Corridor and the SCL’s North South Corridor could help alleviate the traffic pressure, they were still unable to relieve the traffic between Tai Wai and Sheung Shui. (viii) Apart from commissioning professionals to carry out studies, he hoped that the Government could also humbly listen to the opinions of Members and the locals.

19. The Chairman agreed with the comments of Mr. AU Chun-wah and suggested to have “Demand to improve the road facilities on Tolo Highway and to build a new trunk road to improve the traffic between Tai Po and the urban area” as a discussion topic with LegCo Members, and would continue the discussion in agenda item 13. Moreover, he pointed out that although there was no accident along the section of Tolo Highway connecting , there was congestion every morning. He enquired whether the TD had studied the causes of congestion there and ways to improve the situation. For example, it could consider diverting the traffic heading towards Ma On Shan and New Town Plaza at an earlier stage.

20. Mr. Andrew WONG responded as follows:

(i) No information showed that there were more accidents at the section of Tolo Highway connecting Ma On Shan. Regarding the causes of frequent congestions of the said section and whether there was any improvement plan, he had to ask his colleagues in Sha Tin District after the meeting. (ii) The TD and the HyD planned to jointly apply for funding from the LegCo this year to examine the demand for overall traffic infrastructure in Hong Kong after 2030. The department expected that the work could commence in 2018.

21. Mr. Clement WOO, the Vice-chairman, agreed to use the traffic issues relating to Tolo Highway and the traffic between Tai Po and Kowloon as the discussion item with LegCo Members. In addition, he disagreed with the TD’s assertion that the current traffic condition of Tolo Highway was acceptable. He said that the Working Group on Provision of Public Bus and Minibus Services had requested the department to move forward the service time of route 307 to - 10 -

6:00 a.m. so as to meet the needs of Tai Po residents who had to leave home earlier due to the congestions on Tolo Highway. However, despite the repeated requests by Members for the Government to review on the situation, the Government still did not provide any response. Moreover, in the “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” report, the Government had not proposed any plan, design and assessment in respect of the traffic problem of Tolo Highway, which was unacceptable.

22. Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai’s comments were as follows:

(i) He did not understand why the Government had never commenced the study or advance study for the new trunk road. (ii) Regarding the proposal to set up a bus lane, he opined that the practice in could be followed, where the bus lane would only apply during the morning peak hours. In addition, Tuen Mun Road was mainly a three-lane carriageway, while part of Tolo Highway was a four-lane carriageway. As such, he did not understand why Tolo Highway did not have the right condition to set up a bus lane. He pointed out that setting up a bus lane could also encourage more residents to go to work by public buses. (iii) There was often congestion on Tolo Highway which the residents had grown weary of, but the Government was still rejecting their requests with all sorts of excuses. Not only did the Government prevent the setting up of a bus lane, it had not put forward any specific improvement proposals either. He hoped that the department could study the proposals put forward by Members and if the proposals could not be implemented, sufficient reasons had to be provided.

23. Mr. YAM Man-chuen’s comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Enquired the TD what rank of staff would have the rights to decide on the implementation of the construction of a new trunk road. (ii) When he objected to the construction in Area 9 of Tai Po years ago, he had already pointed out the numerous traffic problems in the district that the TD had to study and improve on. However, the department was still unable to submit the study report concerned as of today. As regards the TDs earlier statement that the study on the demand for overall traffic infrastructure in Hong Kong could commence in 2018, he enquired when the result could be released. (iii) He hoped that the department would study ways to construct new trunk roads to resolve the traffic problems in Tai Po District. (iv) Apart from constructing new trunk roads, the TTC earlier had also suggested providing more parking spaces, such as introducing mechanical parking systems - 11 -

and double-deck parking systems, and making good use of the sites beneath flyovers to set up temporary car parks etc. However, the TD did not follow up on the suggestions accordingly which he criticised. He would also like to know what rank of staff could deal with these problems.

24. Mr. KWAN Wing-yip’s comments were as follows:

(i) Agreed with the traffic problems regarding Tolo Highway that other Members had raised.

(ii) He specifically pointed out that passengers of route 307 had to face the congestion on Tolo Highway, Tate’s Cairn Highway, Kwun Tong Bypass, Eastern Harbour Crossing and Island Eastern Corridor, and had to face the congestion again during the return trip, leaving them emotionally distressed which the department should not ignore. He opined that the TD should not determine whether the road had reached its maximum capacity according to the average traffic flow, but should pay more attention to the road condition during the morning and evening peak hours instead. (iii) Numerous bus routes in Tai Po (such as routes 307, 74X and 75X) would take Tate’s Cairn Highway towards Kowloon, and would converge with some of the bus routes in North District and vehicles travelling from Ma On Shan to Kowloon. Even if there were no accidents, there would still be congestion. He hoped that the TD would help come up with ways to resolve the problem.

25. Mr. LO Hiu-fung’s comments were as follows:

(i) The TD did not proactively respond to and follow up on the TTC’s suggestions. Take the suggestion of setting up a bus lane on Tolo Highway as an example, he opined that if the TD was unable to set up a bus lane on the entire Tolo Highway, it could also study ways to set up one in certain sections. He also hoped that the department would provide suggestions on ways to allow buses to switch from the bus lane to the fast lane. (ii) “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” had mentioned the construction of North South Corridor, but the prerequisite set by the Government was that the population in North District had to reach 350 000. Since there were already numerous traffic problems along with frequent congestion during the peak hours, he opined that the prerequisite concerned was unreasonable, and hoped that the Government could commence the study on North South Corridor immediately. Otherwise, the supply of facilities could never catch up with the actual demand in light of the population changes in the district.

- 12 -

(iii) The department’s suggestions were technical-oriented, while DC Members’ suggestions were people-oriented. If the Government would like to achieve effective governance, it should consider more from DC Members’ and the public’s perspectives.

26. Mr. Andrew WONG responded as follows:

(i) The Transport and Housing Bureau (“THB”) had set out in the report of the Public Transport Strategy Study the feasibility as well as pros and cons of setting up a bus lane. He could get in touch with Members to explain the content concerned after the meeting if necessary. (ii) He was mainly responsible for dealing with the traffic problems in Tai Po District at the frontline, while matters regarding planning would fall under the scope of work of the Priority Railway Division, the Major Projects Division and the Strategic Studies Division of the TD.

27. Mr. Francis YAM’s comments were as follows:

(i) While the traffic on Nathan Road and Tuen Mun Road was just as heavy, bus lanes could still be set up. He asked why it could not be done on Tolo Highway. (ii) If the Government hoped that members of the public would replace private vehicles with public transportation, it should roll out more public transportation first policies. (iii) The Government had more population data than Members did. With the commissioning of Liantang Boundary Control Point and the North East New Territories development, population growth, insufficient railway services and road saturation were all the realities that had to be faced with, and the Government would have no more excuses to reject Members’ requests. He opined that if we were resigned to our fate, the entire Tai Po District would have to deal with the consequences. As such, he hoped that there would be higher level discussions on the matter.

28. Mr. LO Hiu-fung reiterated that he hoped that the department would think more from the public’s perspective and proactively respond to the district’s appeals and study Members’ suggestions.

29. The Chairman asked the TD to study the problems raised by Members. As regards the congestion on the section of Tolo Highway towards Ma On Shan, he opined that while the road section fell under the jurisdiction of Sha Tin District, as it mainly affected the traffic in Tai Po District and North District, he opined that the TD officers in Tai Po District should take the - 13 -

initiatives to study the improvement measures (such as painting double white lines, etc.) so as to divert the traffic and reduce congestion.

V. Demand the Government to incorporate residents’ buses and red minibuses into the non-means tested Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme (TPDC Paper No.TT 64/2017)

30. Mr. MUI Siu-fung introduced the captioned paper.

31. Mr. Leo CHAN responded as follows:

(i) Red minibuses did not have a set route or timetable, while residents’ buses generally served a specific group of passengers. Neither was included in the non-means tested Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme (“Subsidy Scheme”) at the moment. (ii) The reason why the Subsidy Scheme did not cover red minibuses or residents’ buses was that the Government opined that there should be a certain level of predictability in the fares of the public transportation services covered by the Scheme, and the Government also had to have a certain level of participation in their fare adjustment. As such, the fare adjustment of the public transportation suggested to be covered by the Subsidy Scheme at the moment were all monitored by the Government. (iii) The TD thanked Members for their comments and noted that quite a number of members of the public hoped that red minibuses and residents’ buses be covered by the Subsidy Scheme. In this regard, the department would continue to listen to and carefully consider the comments of various parties.

32. Mr. MUI Siu-fung asked the TD to co-ordinate accordingly with the operators of red minibuses and residents’ buses so as to incorporate them into the Subsidy Scheme to benefit more people.

33. Mr. Francis YAM said that the TD had a certain level of supervision over the routes, fares, mode of operation, licences, etc. of residents’ buses. As such, he opined that residents’ buses be incorporated into the Subsidy Scheme first so as to benefit more people.

34. Mr. LO Hiu-fung said that the licences of residents’ buses were subject to certain level of supervision as they were issued by the TD. Also, as the fares of residents’ buses were relatively stable and monitored by the housing estate residents, he suggested incorporating residents’ buses into the Subsidy Scheme. As for the red minibuses, due to the fluctuation in their fares, the department could study ways to incorporate them into the Subsidy Scheme at the next stage. In addition, numerous residents supported the Subsidy Scheme, believing that it could help relieve - 14 -

their burden of transport expenses. However, he hoped that the Government could increase the amount of subsidy (such as raising the subsidy ceiling from $300 to $500 or $600) on the premise of not affecting the implementation of the policy.

35. Mr. Leo CHAN responded that the TD would continue to listen to and consider the comments of various parties at this stage. In addition, the Government’s goal was to apply for funding from the LegCo’s Finance Committee within three months, and to implement the Subsidy Scheme as soon as possible within a year after funding had been approved by the LegCo’s Finance Committee.

VI. Demand to increase early hours and overnight routes between Tai Po and the airport (TPDC Paper No.TT 65/2017)

36. The Chairman welcomed Mr. POON Chun-kong, Assistant Manager (Bus Operations) of Long Win to the meeting for the discussion of this item. He added that the Secretariat earlier received two letters jointly signed by Mr. KWAN Wing-yip, Mr. Francis YAM, Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai, Mr. AU Chun-wah, Mr. YAM Man-chuen and Mr. LAU Yung-wai, requesting an increase in the early hours and overnight routes between Tai Po and the airport, and objecting against the handing over of MTR feeder buses in Tai Po District by MTR Corporation Limited to the KMB respectively. Please refer to TPDC Papers No. TT 65/2017 and TT 66/2017 for details.

37. Mr. Francis YAM introduced TPDC Paper No. TT 65/2017.

38. Mr. POON Chun-kong responded as follows:

(i) Long Win always planned its bus services according to the districts’ population and passengers’ demand. (ii) During the summer holiday this year, Long Win provided overnight airport express bus services on a trial basis to cater for the passengers’ demand. (iii) Long Win planned to turn route NA47 into a regular one, providing overnight bus services to cater for the Tai Po residents’ demand for transportation to and from the airport. (iv) Long Win currently had three routes (routes N42A, N42P and NA47) and four overnight bus trips serving the Tai Po residents. As the passengers’ demand would be lower at the initial stages of the routes’ operation, some of the routes would serve more than one area. (v) Long Win would pay close attention to the number and demand of passengers of airport bus services, and would make adjustments wherever necessary. - 15 -

39. Mr. Leo CHAN said that Long Win would provide overnight airport bus services in response to passengers’ demand. For Tai Po District, apart from providing direct routes, Long Win had also provided other routes that travelled past Tai Po to serve the residents. As passengers were currently more familiar with the services and frequency of airport buses, Long Win would consider enhancing the services if there was an increase in the number and demand of passengers.

40. Mr. LAU Yung-wai’s comments were as follows:

(i) Long Win currently only had one bus trip from the airport to North District via Tai Po in the early morning, and the other three were all from North District or Tai Po to the airport. (ii) While North District had a population similar to Tai Po, it had three routes (routes NA43, N42A and N42P) and seven overnight airport bus trips, and three of which were from the airport to North District. As such, he found Long Win’s arrangement unfair. (iii) There were two bus trips that would depart from the airport for North District at 12:20 a.m., and one of them travelled past Tai Po. As such, residents of North District could take either one according to their needs, but Tai Po residents could only take the one that travelled past Tai Po, i.e., route N42A. If Tai Po residents missed that bus, they could only go back to Tai Po by taxi directly, or take a bus to another district (such as Sha Tin, etc.) and change to other transportation back to Tai Po.

41. The Chairman enquired whether Long Win would consider providing an overnight bus trip from the airport to Tai Po on a trial basis.

42. Mr. POON Chun-kong said that Long Win planned to provide overnight bus services from the airport to Tai Po. It was currently discussing the arrangements concerned with the TD, and would inform the TTC once further information was available.

43. Mr. Francis YAM hoped that Long Win could provide overnight bus services from the airport to Tai Po before the Christmas holiday. In addition, he said that while route NA47 would still provide services on non-holidays, it was in fact a special holiday route according to Long Win’s website. As such, he enquired whether the route had been confirmed as a regular route. He could not accept that route NA47 provided services on certain days only.

44. Mr. LO Hiu-fung said that Long Win had earlier offered group concessionary fare for the “A Routes”, but Tai Po residents had to go to Sha Tin to buy the concessionary tickets. He said that the group concessionary fare could not only relieve the public’s burden of transport expenses, but - 16 - also provide incentives to attract more members of the public to take the “A Routes” and divert passengers of other transportation. Therefore, he hoped that Long Win would take care more about the needs of Tai Po residents when offering concessions in future.

45. Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai opined that there were insufficient airport bus services in Tai Po District. Since route NA47 currently only had one regular trip to the airport, members of the public who had missed it would have to take a taxi directly to the airport, or go to Sha Tin to switch to other airport bus routes. As such, there was insufficient incentive to attract members of the public to take that route. In addition, he said that insufficient room at the bus terminus had often been used as an excuse by the bus companies to turn down the request of using Tai Wo as the terminus for airport bus routes. Since there was sufficient room at the Tai Wo bus terminus in the early morning, he hoped that the buses could depart from Tai Wo if Long Win was to provide overnight bus services in Tai Po.

46. Mr. YU Chi-wing, Ken said that Long Win should make use of the internet or more locations for the sale of concessionary tickets so as to benefit more people. In addition, since traffic in Sha Tin was relatively heavy and works would be carried out on Tai Po Road (Sha Tin Section), he suggested that during the peak hours, airport buses should head west for the airport via other trunk roads, so as to allow the passengers to arrive on time.

47. Mr. POON Chun-kong responded as follows:

(i) Before the department approved turning route NA47 into a regular one, Long Win would apply to the TD for operating route NA47 on a continued basis before the end of the trial period. (ii) Long Win was discussing with the TD on the provision of route NA47 bus trips from the airport to Tai Po in the early hours, and the departure time was initially expected to be 12:30 a.m. Long Win hoped that the advance preparation work would be completed as soon as possible and the service would be able to commence before Christmas. (iii) Long Win used to sell concessionary tickets at the ticket office of the airport and some of the KMB customer service centres in the past, and was discussing with the TD to increase the number of sales locations.

48. The Chairman opined that Tai Po Centre was a suitable sales location and asked Long Win to consider.

49. Mr. LAU Yung-wai said that route N42A would depart from Tung Chung at 12:20 a.m. and arrive at the airport sometime between 12:35 a.m. and 12:40 a.m. If route NA47 departed from the airport at 12:30 a.m., there would not be much time difference between the two and it might - 17 -

lead to duplication of resources. In addition, the fare for route N42A was $30.1 and that for route NA47 $42.5. If their departure time was similar, passengers would choose route N42A which would cost less. He was worried that under such situation, route NA47 would eventually be cancelled due to insufficient passengers. Therefore, he hoped that Long Win would carefully re-consider the departure time of route NA47, such as postponing it to 1:00 a.m.

50. Mr. POON Chun-kong said that Long Win had met with the airport representatives. As most of them finished work sometime after 11:00 p.m. and close to midnight, they would have to wait for 40 minutes for a bus to return to Tai Po at present. As such, they hoped to move forward the departure time of route NA47. In addition, according to operation experience, numerous flights would arrive in Hong Kong between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. As it would take time for the visitors to pick up their luggage and go through immigration clearance, very often they would not be able to catch the last bus of the day time services, and could only wait for the overnight bus services. Therefore, they also hoped to move forward the departure time of route NA47. In light of the above, Long Win had temporary set the departure time at 12:30 a.m. If there was an increase in the number and demand of passengers of route NA47 in future, Long Win would also consider increasing the number of trips to meet the demand.

VII. Objection against the handing over of MTR feeder buses in Tai Po District by MTR Corporation Limited to Kowloon Motor Bus (“KMB”) (TPDC Paper No. TT 66/2017)

51. The Chairman welcomed Mr. LEUNG Man-tik, Assistant Public Relations Manager (External Affairs) of the MTR to the meeting for the discussion of this item.

52. Mr. Francis YAM introduced the captioned paper.

53. Mr. LEUNG Man-tik said that at present, the MTR was providing four feeder bus routes (i.e., routes K12, K14, K17 and K18) in Tai Po District in partnership with the KMB to make it easier for the passengers to travel to the MTR Station to take the MTR, and the current feeder bus services in the district remained normal. He said that the MTR met regularly with the KMB to discuss the feeder bus services. On the premise of not affecting the current services, both parties would discuss the operation matters of the four feeder bus routes in future.

54. Ms. LEUNG Ka-yan said that the KMB owned the franchises for the feeder bus routes K12, K14, K17 and K18, and would also study the future operation arrangement of the feeder buses in Tai Po District with the MTR. As specific discussions had not been launched, no information could be provided for the time being. If there was further information, the KMB would explain to the TTC as soon as possible.

- 18 -

55. Mr. Leo CHAN said that the TD knew that the MTR would discuss the operation arrangement of the four East Rail feeder bus routes in the district with the KMB, but there was no specific proposal for the time being. The department would pay close attention to the situation and request both parties to carefully consider and handle the impact on the staff while discussing the arrangement concerned in a timely manner.

56. Mr. KWAN Wing-yip said that the feeder buses in the district were free of charge in their early days, but later required payment. Due to public pressure, however, an interchange concession for the MTR was provided for the residents. He questioned the purpose of the current discussion on the future operation of the feeder buses between the MTR and the KMB was to cancel the interchange concession for the MTR, and it would also affect the current staff and the future service quality of the feeder buses. He said that the MTR and the KMB did not consult the residents over the matter. And as the MTR had the rights to decide whether to continue to provide the interchange concession, it would be difficult for the TTC or the residents to raise their objection. He enquired whether the MTR and the KMB would promise to maintain the current interchange concession.

57. Mr. YAM Man-chuen’s comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Enquired the reasons why the MTR and the KMB all of a sudden discussed on the future operation matters of feeder buses. (ii) The MTR had already cancelled the interchange concession for feeder buses in Kowloon. He wondered whether it was planning to cancel the interchange concession for the MTR feeder bus in Tai Po District, and would like the MTR to clarify on the matter.

(iii) A number of housing estates in Tai Po were far away from bus stops. He did not hope that the MTR would cancel the feeder buses in Tai Po District. On the contrary, he opined that the MTR should consider enhancing the services instead. (iv) Reiterated that the residents of Fu Heng Estate required the feeder bus services, and hoped that the MTR would carefully consider the residents’ requests. (v) Currently a number of MTR fare savers were over 500 metres away from the stations. He suggested the MTR review the criteria concerned for setting up the fare savers and set up more.

58. Mr. Ken YU opined that the TD was helping the MTR and the KMB exploit members of the public. Take Wan Tau Tong as an example, due to the limits of bus route planning, residents had to rely on the MTR. However, when he sent a letter to the MTR earlier asking for a fare saver in Wan Tau Tong, his request was turned down. He hoped that the MTR would provide concessions for the residents in the area. - 19 -

59. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu said that after the media had reported on the incident concerned, all the Tai Po residents who were using the feeder bus services were worried. She said that the feeder buses in Tai Po District were the results of the hard work of the former DC Members, and the existing interchange concession arrangement had also been established for a long time and it was not suitable to change its mode of operation. She said that the TD had told her that the feeder buses would not be replaced by any other transportation, and that the MTR and the KMB were only discussing whether to hand over the four feeder bus routes to the KMB. She hoped that both parties would discuss matters as regards the feeder bus services in Tai Po District in a more open manner so as to increase transparency. As long as the services of the four existing feeder bus routes in Tai Po District could be maintained, there could be further studies on other operation matters.

60. Mr. LEUNG Man-tik said that the MTR was only having preliminary discussions with the KMB on the matters concerned and no agreement had been reached at this stage. He understood Tai Po residents’ concerns on the feeder bus services and reiterated that the MTR would negotiate with the KMB on the premise that the existing services would not be affected. In addition, he said that the MTR fare savers were part of the MTR’s promotion campaign, the aim of which was to encourage passengers to walk within a certain distance to take the MTR. As such, there were certain limitations on their locations. The MTR would continue to listen to DC Members’ comments to improve its services.

61. Ms. LEUNG Ka-yan understood that the media’s report might lead to worries in the community and the residents. However, since the negotiation concerned was still in progress, it was not suitable to comment on the matter at this stage. If further information could be disclosed, the KMB would explain it to the TTC as soon as possible.

62. Mr. Francis YAM opined that the MTR’s statement, “the existing services would not be affected”, was highly ambiguous. He reiterated that he requested the MTR not only maintain its existing feeder bus services, but more importantly also maintain the Octopus feeder bus-MTR interchange concession. He said that if the MTR was not planning to change, it would not have launched the discussion on the operation of feeder buses with the KMB. If changes were to be made, he speculated that one of the main points for discussion would be the interchange concession. He hoped that the MTR would continue to maintain the existing services and interchange concession based on its corporate conscience.

63. Mr. LEUNG Man-tik understood residents’ concerns on the MTR’s interchange concession, and he would relay the comments concerned to the MTR’s management.

- 20 -

64. Mr. KWAN Wing-yip requested the TTC or the Working Group on Provision of Public Bus and Minibus Services under the TTC to continue to follow up on the captioned issue, and would request the MTR and the KMB to continue to send representatives to attend the meetings concerned and report on the latest situation.

65. The TTC agreed to incorporate the captioned issue into matters arising from the meeting for follow-up action.

VIII. Demand for the KMB to increase bus services between Tai Po and New Territories West (TPDC Paper No. TT 67/2017)

66. The Chairman said that the Secretariat earlier received a paper from Mr. LO Hiu-fung requesting the KMB to increase bus services between Tai Po and New Territories West. Please refer to TPDC Paper No. TT 67/2017 for details.

67. Mr. LO Hiu-fung introduced the captioned paper.

68. Mr. LEE Shut-hang, Imgmar said that passengers could take routes 64K and 265S of the KMB to go to and Tin Shui Wai directly from Tai Po, or route 73X to Shing Mun Tunnels and then transfer to route 263 or 269D for Tuen Mun and Tin Shui Wai. The KMB noted the suggestions to set up bus routes between Tai Po and other locations in New Territories West, and would also continue to study their feasibility with the TD.

69. The Chairman said that the Working Group on Provision of Public Bus and Minibus Services had commissioned a consultancy to carry out a study on the public bus services in Tai Po District, which included a survey on the passengers’ demand for bus services between Tai Po and New Territories West, and the report concerned was expected to be completed between January and March 2018. Since the report would help Members find out the passengers’ demand for bus services between Tai Po and New Territories West, he suggested postponing the discussion until the study had been completed.

70. Mr. CHAN Cho-leung said that route 264R provided bus services for passengers between Tai Po and Yuen Long during holidays. Due to the low number of passengers at present, he suggested the KMB consider enhancing the route to attract more passengers, such as taking a detour to Lam Tsuen Wishing Square, and extending the route to Tuen Mun or Tin Shui Wai, etc.

71. Mr. Imgmar LEE said that the KMB was open to the suggestion of route 264R taking a detour to Lam Tsuen Wishing Square, and whether it could be implemented depended on the feasibility of setting up a bus stop at Lam Tsuen Wishing Square.

- 21 -

72. Mr. LO Hiu-fung said that currently route 265S only had one bus trip to Tin Shui Wai every day. He hoped that the KMB could put forward an enhancement proposal at the next meeting, such as increasing the number of trips and adjusting its service schedule.

73. The Chairman said that the TTC would follow up on the setting up of a bus stop at Lam Tsuen Wishing Square in agenda item 9. He also hoped that the KMB would review the situation of route 265S and put forward an enhancement proposal to the TTC.

IX. Matters arising from the minutes of the 5th meeting of the TTC in 2017 on 15 September 2017 (TPDC Papers No. TT 68/2017, TT 69/2017 and TT 70/2017)

(I) Demand for the prompt setting up of a bus stop on Lam Tsuen Heung Kung Sho Road

74. The Chairman welcomed Mr. CHAN Wing-yiu, Ronald of the TPDLO to the meeting for the discussion of this item.

75. Mr. Ronald CHAN said that the proposed bus stop was located at a government site managed by the TPDLO, and there were two gates to prevent illegal occupation. In addition, there were two sites around the proposed location of the bus stop, which had been allocated by the Government to the TPDO on a temporary basis for carrying out road improvement works and planting flowers.

76. Mr. Andrew WONG said that in the Bus Route Planning Programme 2017-2018 of Tai Po District, the TD expected that a detour around the area of Lam Tsuen Heung Kun Sho Road for route 373 would be implemented in the third quarter of 2018. Based on the current situation, however, it would be difficult to implement the suggestion in the short- and medium-run. Since there was still sufficient room and capacity at the bus stop in Hang Ha Po and the one next to Lam Tsuen Pai Lau, the department was studying the use of these two stops as the stops for route 373 in Lam Tsuen.

77. Mr. CHAN Cho-leung opined that the TD had sufficient time to prepare for the implementation of a detour around Lam Tsuen for route 373 in the third quarter of 2018. He said that the special departures of route 63R of the KMB would use Lam Tsuen Wishing Square as a temporary bus stop every year during the Lam Tsuen Well-Wishing Festival. Therefore, it was technically feasible. He opined that after the cancellation of the project relating to Lam Tsuen Wishing Square under the Tai Po Signature Project Scheme, it should facilitate the setting up of a bus stop at Lam Tsuen Wishing Square by the department. As the residents could only take routes 64K and 65K on Lam Kam Road to the other districts at present, he hoped that a stop could be set up on Lam Tsuen Heung Kung Sho Road to make it easier for the Lam Tsuen Valley - 22 - residents to travel to Tai Po and other districts. He was willing to discuss and resolve the existing difficulties with the TPDLO, the TPDO and the TD.

78. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to arrange for a site visit for the TTC and the departments concerned and to discuss ways to resolve the problems.

(Post-meeting note: The site visit was carried out on 28 December 2017.)

(II) Proposed provision of a vehicular bridge near Kwong Fuk Bridge (TPDC Papers No. TT 69/2017 and TT 70/2017)

79. The Chairman said that the HyD and the Drainage Services Department (“DSD”) had provided a written response regarding Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge. Please refer to TPDC Papers No. TT 69/2017 and TT 70/2017 for details. He added that according to the HyD’s response, since it would take time for the project team to assess the impact of different flood prevention standards on the design of Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge, it was expected that the latest progress could not be reported to the TTC until the next meeting. Since the TTC had made a lot of comments earlier regarding the design of Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge, he suggested taking no follow-up action until the HyD had put forward a revised proposal.

80. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that Members made a lot of comments at the previous meeting. He hoped that the HyD could carefully consider them so as to comprehensively enhance the design proposal of Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge.

81. The Chairman said that at the meeting on 2 November 2017, TPDC Members forwarded the comments on Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge to the Director of Highways. He asked the Secretariat to pass the meeting minutes concerned to the HyD and DSD representatives so that they could provide a response during their report at the next TTC meeting.

(Post-meeting note: The Secretariat passed the first draft of the meeting minutes concerned to the HyD and DSD representatives on 27 November.)

82. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that if the departments concerned only dealt with matters according to the internal guidelines of the department, the design and planning work of Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge would never be completed. Since the project involved the scope of work of a number of departments, he opined that the TD should take on a co-ordinating role for the departments concerned and enhance the design proposal of the vehicular bridge based on the TPDC’s comments.

- 23 -

83. Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen said that several terms of DC in the past had proactively strived for the construction of Kwong Fuk Vehicular Bridge, and he asked the departments concerned to co-ordinate accordingly and launch the project as soon as possible.

(III) Request for more parking spaces in Tai Po

84. Mr. WONG Kin-nam, Kenny said that there were 15 road side metered private vehicle parking spaces in (near Phoenix Television Corporation on Dai Hei Street). Due to the low usage rate of these parking spaces at night time, the TD suggested converting them into parking spaces for goods vehicles from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. to cope with the parking demand of large goods vehicles. The department would carry out a district consultation regarding the suggestion, and would implement the suggestion concerned as soon as possible if public approval had been secured.

85. Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen said that it was a policy problem as regards the shortage of parking spaces throughout Hong Kong. He said that mechanical parking systems had been constructed in places like Guangzhou, Taiwan and Japan. While they did not require a lot of resources, they could provide a substantial number of parking spaces. In contrast, Hong Kong was lagging behind in this area. To benefit the public, he opined that the Government should introduce this technology as soon as possible to resolve the shortage of parking spaces. He suggested that the Government should consider building these parking systems at Tai Po Nethersole Hospital, Tai Po Police Station and other government car parks first on a trial basis.

86. Mr. Francis YAM agreed with Mr. CHAN’s comments and said that he had on numerous occasions suggested the Government follow the practice of other countries by introducing similar parking systems. Simple projects such as installing metal frames under flyovers would be enough to provide a lot of parking spaces. He hoped that there would be breakthroughs in the new term of Government to resolve the shortage of parking spaces with a new mindset. In addition, he said that some of the parking spaces in the district were frequently occupied by shops, and he hoped that the HKPF would step up its enforcement efforts.

87. Mr. LO Hiu-fung said that mechanical parking systems were very popular on the Mainland and in other countries. The TTC had suggested the TD use them on numerous occasions, but it had never given any specific responses. Apart from constructing mechanical parking systems on government sites, he opined that the TD could also provide incentives to encourage the renters to construct this kind of parking systems when granting sites to be used as temporary car parks so as to provide more parking spaces. In addition, he said that not that many people would park their cars at Tai Po Industrial Estate and then walk to the town centre. As such, the dual-purpose parking spaces suggested by the department above would not be of much help.

- 24 -

88. The Chairman asked whether the TD had installed any mechanical parking systems on government sites or buildings at present.

89. Mr. Kenny WONG responded as follows:

(i) He knew that mechanical parking systems had been used in private development projects, but had never dealt with any applications for constructing them on government sites.

(ii) The TD requested the development projects to provide a specific number of parking spaces, but the way to provide them was decided by the developers or Government departments concerned.

90. Mr. YAM Man-chuen’s comments and questions were as follows:

(i) The Government staff responsible for the district matters in Tai Po were already very responsible, but could not deal with all the problems due to limited power. Take the mechanical parking systems as an example, they had been mentioned in almost all the TTC meetings at this term of DC, but there was still no progress at all. (ii) Hoped to find out which rank of officials could decide on the implementation of the construction of mechanical parking systems. The department should let the TTC know the difficulties encountered along the way. (iii) Suggested the TTC consider using the “construction of mechanical parking systems in the district” as one of the discussion items at the meeting with LegCo Members. (iv) Suggested the DC construct mechanical parking systems in Tai Po District through the District-led Actions Scheme.

91. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu’s comments were as follows:

(i) Suggested making appropriate arrangements for DC Members to visit the mechanical parking systems on the Mainland during the TPDC’s duty visit in April 2018. (ii) Link REIT was the major parking space provider in the district. However, the monthly rental of its parking space was expensive which was a heavy burden for some car owners. She hoped that the TD would study feasible proposals with Link REIT, such as sub-leasing the monthly parking spaces to other vehicles during specific periods. It would not only relieve the burden of the existing car owners, but also make good use of the parking spaces to increase the number of parking spaces.

- 25 -

(iii) There were mechanical parking systems in Tuen Mun Town Plaza and Kwai Hing Industrial Building. She opined that the Government could try to construct this kind of parking systems at some of the government car parks with a higher ceiling.

92. Mr. AU Chun-wah said that according to the letter from the management committee of Tai Po Complex, the current operation contract of the car park at the Tai Po Complex would expire in 2019, and it was also mentioned in the letter that the parking situation was acceptable. However, he opined that it was not the case in reality. He said that recently the car park had been fully occupied less frequently, as the vehicles had mainly switched to the car park at Po Heung Estate which charged less. He opined that a suitable downward adjustment in the hourly rate of the car park at Tai Po Complex would help improve the demand imbalance of the two car parks and resolve the congestion on the streets. He also asked the Government to pay more attention as to whether there were other similar imbalance due to the different hourly rates of car parks and to follow up accordingly.

93. Mr. Kenny WONG said that the TD would strive to request the developers to provide the maximum number of parking spaces in the new development projects, and to encourage them to construct mechanical parking systems.

(IV) Proposed addition of a lane / covered taxi stand next to the Kwong Fuk Roundabout

94. Mr. Kenny WONG introduced the preliminary design proposal of the captioned project, and the drawing had been set out in Annex III. Since it would involve the site of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (“LCSD”), the TD would have to discuss with the LCSD on whether to allocate part of the site as the taxi stand.

95. Mr. Clement WOO, the Vice-chairman, welcomed the TD carrying out improvement projects in the Kwong Fuk Roundabout area on a continued basis, and was glad to see the department put forward a specific proposal today. He suggested the department carry out a site visit with the DC Member of the constituency concerned if necessary.

96. Mr. WAN Hing-choy welcomed the department’s suggestion and hoped that it could be implemented as soon as possible.

97. Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen said that a lot of residents would transfer to taxis there. As such, he hoped that the department could build a covered taxi stand as soon as possible to protect members of the public from the elements.

- 26 -

98. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu suggested opening an exit at the other end of Kwong Chun Street so that vehicles would not have to turn around, while the congestion at the yellow box marking next to the existing bus stop could also be relieved.

99. Mr. Ken YU said that Kwong Chun Street would be rather congested during the shift-change period of taxis. As such, he suggested the department study ways to extend the taxi stand.

100. Mr. Kenny WONG said that there was enough room to build a standard cover at that location, and the department would also fine-tune and enhance the current design. He would report on the progress of discussion with the LCSD regarding the site at the next meeting.

101. The Chairman asked the TD to discuss the site situation with the LCSD and to speed up the project’s implementation. He also hoped that the department could study the opening of another exit on Kwong Chun Street so as to ease the traffic.

(V) Concerns over illegal parking in Tai Po District

102. The Chairman said that the TTC visited Po Heung Street and Tai Wo bus stop on 23 October and 3 November 2017 respectively. The TD had changed the road design after listening to Members’ comments, and the drawings concerned had been set out in Annexes IV and V.

103. Mr. Kenny WONG introduced Annex IV (Po Heung Street enhancement proposal).

104. Members’ comments regarding Annex IV had been summarised as follows:

(i) As regards the current design, Mr. LI Kwok-ying was concerned that private vehicles might be illegally parked at the green minibus stop or taxi stand, thus forcing the green minibuses and taxis to pick up and drop off passengers outside the minibus stop or taxi stand. Since no police officers were stationed there to take enforcement action, he was worried that the location could easily become an illegal parking spot for vehicles. In addition, he said that shortening the central divider on Po Heung Street would help vehicles turn around. (ii) Mr. AU Chun-wah agreed that shortening the central divider on Po Heung Street would help large vehicles turn around at that location. In addition, he suggested drawing double yellow lines in the area between the exit of Po Heung Estate car park and the traffic lights, so as to prevent vehicles from parking there and blocking other vehicles passing by.

- 27 -

(iii) Mr. Francis YAM asked how the HKPF would deal with the vehicles parked in the hatched area at the turnaround spot. He opined that if the HKPF did not handle this problem appropriately, the hatched area might become a new illegal parking spot for vehicles. (iv) Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen opined that double yellow lines should be drawn at the area between the exit of Po Heung Estate car park and the traffic lights. (v) Mr. Ken YU opined that the co-operation of law enforcement efforts was the most important. Otherwise, the double yellow line area would become another illegal parking blackspot. He hoped that the TD would take into consideration the illegal parking problem in its design work, and the HKPF would also have to step up its law enforcement efforts accordingly. (vi) Mr. WAN Hing-choy said that the taxi stand in Tai Po Market was often occupied by the illegally parked private vehicles, and taxis were forced to pick up and drop off passengers outside the taxi stand. It would be very unfair to the taxi drivers if they were given penalty tickets because of this. In addition, he opined that it would not be suitable to cancel a taxi stand there to allow private vehicles to pick up and drop off passengers, as the private vehicles would not go away immediately if no police officers were stationed there. (vii) Mr. Clement WOO, the Vice-chairman, said that after drawing double yellow lines on both sides of Po Heung Street, private vehicles would have nowhere to pick up or drop off passengers. In addition, he was also worried that vehicles would be parked in the hatched area at the turnaround spot.

105. Mr. Kenny WONG responded as follows:

(i) Apart from taxis and green minibuses, no other vehicles were allowed to enter taxi stands and minibus stops, and offenders could be prosecuted. (ii) Before the implementation of the enhancement proposal, shortening the central divider on Po Heung Street would obstruct vehicles turning around there. Upon the completion of the enhancement proposal, the department could make use of the hatched area to carry out the project, and vehicles turning around would not be obstructed. As such, the department would categorise the shortening of the central divider on Po Heung Street as a proposed project in the next stage.

(iii) If double yellow lines were drawn in the area between the exit of Po Heung Estate car park and the traffic lights, the “End” road sign for the prohibited zone would obstruct the traffic light signals. In that case, the prohibited zone might have to be extended to somewhere beyond the next traffic lights. In addition, there was nowhere on Po Heung Street for private vehicles to pick up and drop off passengers.

- 28 -

106. The Chairman said that since a lot of vehicles had to pick up and drop off passengers on Po Heung Street, it would be difficult to come up with a proposal that would meet the needs of all stakeholders. The opening of the car park at Po Heung Estate had attracted a lot of traffic and vehicles lining up for a parking space. As such, widening the turnaround spot and shortening the central divider would help medium and large vehicles turn around there.

107. Mr. LI Kwok-ying supported the extension of the prohibited zone to somewhere beyond the next traffic lights (i.e., the junction of Wai Yi Street), believing that it would help ease the traffic congestion on Wai Yi Street. In addition, he reiterated that the green minibus stop and taxi stand were both located within the yellow line area. If no police officers were stationed there, they would not be able to prevent private vehicles from parking there. Therefore, he suggested the HKPF install video cameras at that location and issue penalty tickets to the vehicle owners who had violated the law afterwards.

108. Mr. TSUI Yik-fuk responded as follows:

(i) Suggested changing the location of the green minibus stop to increase the usage rate of the green minibus stop on Po Heung Street and reduce the number of illegally parked vehicles. (ii) Traffic cones and road markings could be set up outside the hatched area to prevent vehicles from entering. (iii) Only when road users abided by the traffic regulations could illegal parking be eradicated. (iv) According to the Road Traffic Ordinance (Cap. 374C), no person should park a vehicle on any road on which there was a system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps not more than 200 metres apart (other than in a parking place). Otherwise, they could be prosecuted. (v) If there was obstruction to other road users, the HKPF could also take prosecution action according to other regulations. (vi) If there were vehicles parked at the taxi stand, the HKPF could take prosecution action regardless of whether the driver was present. However, the HKPF would take enforcement action accordingly based on the actual situation. (vii) If the turnaround spot on Po Heung Street was widened according to the current enhancement proposal, there would be enough room for vehicles to turn around, and the turnaround restriction there would be eliminated at the same time. (viii) The HKPF currently did not have the authority and resources to install video cameras there. According to the Hong Kong legislation, illegal parking was not a retrospective offence. However, if there was evidence showing any driving - 29 -

violation on the part of the driver (such as video footage showing that a driver had parked his vehicle at the prohibition zone where parking was prohibited, such as bus stop, minibus stop or taxi stand, etc.), the HKPF could prosecute the car owner afterwards.

109. Mr. LI Yiu-ban said that in addition to Po Heung Street, there was also illegal parking throughout Tai Po Market which could not be eradicated. He said that way too many restrictions and frequent changes would make it difficult for the drivers to follow and it would give rise to all sorts of problems. He opined that they should not insist on resolving the traffic problems at a particular location.

110. Mr. LI Kwok-ying agreed that there was illegal parking everywhere. If illegal parking had paralysed the traffic of the entire road, it would have to be dealt with. He added that there was often illegal parking at the corner area on Po Heung Street, Wai Yi Street and Tsing Yuen Street obstructing other road users. Very often, traffic could not be diverted until the HKPF had been summoned to the scene to take enforcement action. As such, the illegal parking situation there had to be dealt with accordingly.

111. Mr. Ken YU opined that the HKPF played a very important role. He said that the HKPF could tow away the vehicles obstructing the traffic in the past, but now it could not. In addition, he opined that there was a shortage of traffic wardens in Tai Po. Even though letters had been sent to the HKPF in the past requesting an increase in manpower, no response had been received.

112. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that he accepted the traffic improvement proposal of the TD, but was worried about the law enforcement problems in future.

113. Mr. AU Chun-wah asked whether there was room to amend the traffic improvement measures concerned if there were problems in its operation after implementation.

114. The Chairman said that traffic measures at the location could be further improved in future.

115. The TTC agreed to implement the proposal in Annex IV and would review the situation of Po Heung Street in future as necessary after its implementation.

116. Mr. Kenny WONG introduced Annex V (Enhancement proposal for the lay-by at Tai Wo bus stop).

117. Mr. CHAN Cho-leung’s comments were as follows:

(i) He had written to the HKPF requesting it to step up its inspection efforts between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. As such, there were fewer instances of illegal parking at - 30 -

that location recently. However, the problem would return once the Police vehicle had left the scene. (ii) There was a taxi parked at the taxi stand at the Tai Po bound Tai Wo bus stop overnight on a long-term basis, and the TD should study ways to deal with it. (iii) Since it was difficult for the HKPF to allocate resources to monitor the situation there for a long period of time, he and Mr. Patrick TANG suggested separating the drop-off points of large buses and private vehicles as a long-term solution.

118. Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai welcomed the TD’s suggestion, opining that the proposal to extend the lay-by could be implemented at this stage first, hoping that it would help relieve the illegal parking problem. After the HKPF had strengthened its enforcement efforts, there was improvement in the illegal parking problem at Tai Wo bus stop recently. Since some of the members of the public were worried that extending the lay-by would worsen the illegal parking problem, he asked the HKPF to maintain its patrol there and prosecution against vehicles that had violated the law during the morning peak hours (around 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.).

119. Mr. Kenny WONG said that the current taxi stand on Po Nga Road was 30 metres long, whereas a passenger pick-up and drop-off point would usually be 40 metres long. After the extension of the lay-by, the passenger pick-up and drop-off point would be lengthened to around 50 metres. Regarding the suggestion to move the large buses’ passenger pick-up and drop-off point to the current taxi stand, since buses needed more space, it would substantially reduce the taxi stand area, and the operation would also be rather complicated. The TD opined that it could wait until the improvement project had been completed to consider whether it was necessary to move the large buses’ passenger pick-up and drop-off point to the current taxi stand.

120. In response to the suggestion to move the passenger pick-up and drop-off point for large residents’ buses to the current taxi stand, Mr. Leo CHAN added that the above suggestion was to reduce the area of the current taxi stand so as to release space to be used as a passenger pick-up and drop-off point for residents’ buses. He said that currently there were no road markings to identify which area was the stop for residents’ buses, but they could pick up and drop off passengers in the general drop-off points, or at the restricted or prohibited zones after securing a permit. If part of the taxi stand was to be converted into a general passenger pick-up and drop-off point, other vehicles could also pick up and drop off passengers there. In that case, no space could be released for the provision of a residents’ buses passenger pick-up and drop-off point either. If part of the taxi stand was to be designated as a restricted or prohibited zone which only the residents’ buses could use, other vehicles without a permit would not be able to pick up and drop off passengers there during the restricted hours. However, the frequency of residents’ bus services was not high and it would be a waste as the location could not be fully utilised. In addition, shortening the taxi stand would also affect the taxis’ operation. In light of the above, detailed studies would have to be carried out as to whether the suggestion concerned could - 31 - improve the usage situation of the current lay-by.

121. Mr. CHAN Cho-leung added that he understood that there would be certain impact of moving the large residents’ buses passenger pick-up and drop-off point to the current taxi stand. Therefore, he suggested implementing the measure during the morning peak hours only. He said that residents’ buses were not required to pick up and drop off passengers at the back of the taxi stand only as the location could also be used as a passenger pick-up and drop-off point for private vehicles. He hoped that the TD would continue to study the suggestion concerned.

122. The TTC agreed to implement the proposal in Annex V.

123. Mr. Kenny WONG said that since the application for works commencement as regards road maintenance, communication with Link REIT and the consultation with other departments would be involved, the TD expected that these advance work would take two months. After the TD had issued the works order to the HyD, the HyD would need three months’ time for preparation.

124. Mr. HUI Ka-kit said that before putting forward the proposal, the TD had referred it to the HyD for technical assessment. Since the assessment was still on-going, there was no information as regards the expected works commencement date or the time required for the time being. After the completion of the technical assessment, the HyD would submit the results to the TD, which would then decide on the works commencement date and the time required, and explain them to the TTC.

125. The Chairman asked the HyD and the TD to provide information on the works schedule for the DC Members of the constituencies concerned in a timely manner.

126. Mr. LAU Yung-wai said that the illegal parking problem on Chui Lok Street, Mei Sun Lane and Kau Hui Chik Street were getting worse, and the situation was especially serious after sunset. He hoped that the HKPF would pay attention to the matter.

127. Mr. TSUI Yik-fuk said that the HKPF had maintained close communication with Mr. LAU on the situation there and had stepped up its patrol and enforcement efforts.

(VI) Improving the facilities of Tolo Highway

128. The Chairman said that since the TTC had already had an in-depth discussion on this subject in Agenda item 4, no discussion would be launched at this juncture.

- 32 -

X. Situation report on traffic improvement works completed in the past two months and to be carried out in the next three months in Tai Po District by the Highways Department (TPDC Paper No. TT 71/2017)

129. Mr. HUI Ka-kit asked Members to note the captioned paper. He added that the HyD would deploy one more Engineer to carry out district projects and departmental co-ordination work in Sai Kung North and with effect from November 2017, and he would like the TTC to take note of it.

XI. Reports of working groups

(1) Working Group on Provision of Public Bus and Minibus Services

130. Ms. WONG Pik-kiu, Chairman of the Working Group, reported that the Working Group held its fifth meeting in 2017 on 18 October 2017 and the main discussion items were as follows:

(i) Regarding public bus services, the Working Group continued to discuss with the TD and bus companies the service improvement proposals for the route 271 series, route 307 series, as well as routes 64K, 65K, A47X, NA47, E41 and 74C. Regarding the terminus of route 271X, the TD suggested that it could be moved from The Peninsula Hong Kong to Peking Road. (ii) Regarding green minibus services, the Working Group discussed the service improvement proposals for route 25B. (iii) The Working Group would continue to follow up on the situation of the bus and minibus routes above and report the actual changes to the TTC if there was any. (iv) The Working Group had completed the tender procedures as regards the survey on the public bus services in Tai Po District, and had invited the consultancy to attend the meeting to brief Members on the details and methodology of the survey. The consultancy expected to commence the interviews in November and would continue to attend the Working Group meetings to report on the progress of the survey.

(2) Working Group on Road Works Concerning “Tolo Highway / / Liantang Boundary Control Point” (Tai Po Section)

131. Dr. LAU Chee-sing reported as the Chairman of the Working Group that the Working Group held its third meeting in 2017 on 8 September 2017 and would continue to follow up on two projects, including:

- 33 -

(i) Phase II construction (Contract No. HY/2012/06 – Section of Fanling Highway from Tai Hang to Wo Hop Shek Interchange). (ii) Liantang / Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point and Associated Works (Contract No. CV/2012/09 – Liantang / Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point Site Formation and Infrastructure Works – Contract 3 (including the widening of about 1 km-long of Fanling Highway between Nam Wa Po and Kiu Tau)).

132. Currently, the two projects above went smoothly. In addition, in light of the serious traffic congestion on Fanling Highway and Tai Wo Service Road West in the morning of 11 September, the TD had requested the contractors to first consult the DCs concerned before applying for road closure in future. After discussion, the Working Group suggested that the contractors could provide Members with the details of road closure by e-mail for their information and comments.

(3) Working Group on Improvements to Major Roads in Rural Areas

133. The Secretary reported on behalf of Mr. Patrick TANG, Chairman of the Working Group, that the Working Group had not held any meeting recently. The Secretariat would inform Members as soon as the date of the next meeting had been confirmed.

(4) Working Group on Road Safety Campaign and Cycling Network Development

134. Mr. Clement WOO reported as the Chairman of the Working Group that the Working Group held its second meeting in 2017 on 23 October 2017. He said that Members made a lot of comments as regards shared bicycles at the meeting. Generally speaking, Members opined that shared bicycles had created a lot of nuisance in the district, such as illegal parking everywhere, obstructing the roads, occupying public bicycle parking spaces so that the residents could not use them, and making noise around the clock, etc. After discussion, the Working Group suggested the TTC write to the departments concerned informing them of the problems of shared bicycles.

135. In addition, the Working Group also continued to follow up on two activities. Tai Po District Road and Traffic Safety Carnival 2017/18 would be held at Tai Po Tin Hau Temple Fung Shui Square on 13 January 2018. The organiser was inviting local groups to perform and set up booths, and guests to attend the activity. As regards Tai Po District Academia Road and Traffic Safety Competition cum Promotion 2017/18, the organiser had distributed the entry forms of the colouring, slogan and poster design competitions to the secondary schools, primary schools, kindergartens and special schools in the district, and was currently collecting the entries of the contestants. The Working Group would continue to report on the activities’ progress to the TTC.

- 34 -

136. The TTC agreed to write to the THB to reflect the TPDC’s comments as regards shared bicycles.

(Post-meeting note: The TTC had written to the THB on 22 December.)

XII. Schedule of meetings of the TTC in 2018 (TPDC Paper No. TT 72/2017)

137. The Chairman said that the TPDC had approved the TTC’s meeting schedule in 2018 at the meeting on 2 November 2017. He asked Members to take note of the paper.

XIII. Any other business

(I) Meeting-cum-luncheon between Legislative Council Members and TPDC Members – proposed discussion items

138. The Chairman said that a meeting-cum-luncheon between LegCo Members and TPDC Members would be held on 26 January 2018. At the meeting on 2 November 2017, the TPDC had resolved to entrust each of its committees to draft a discussion topic to be discussed with LegCo Members on the day. Since the topics and information concerned had to be submitted to the LegCo Secretariat within this year, after a decision had been made at this meeting, approval from the DC and the TTC would be sought as regards the discussion topic and the information concerned by way of circulation.

139. The Chairman proposed the discussion topic be “Request to improve the road facilities of Tolo Highway and construct new trunk roads to improve the traffic between Tai Po and the urban area”. Regarding the improvement of road facilities of Tolo Highway, he suggested setting up a bus lane on Tolo Highway and painting double white lines on the fast lane, etc. As regards the construction of new trunk roads, he suggested constructing a new trunk road connecting Tai Po and Sha Tin to reduce the burden of and congestion on Tolo Highway. He guided Members’ discussion and provided comments.

140. Mr. YAM Man-chuen asked whether each committee could only put forward one discussion topic, and whether all the committees had come up with their respective discussion topics.

141. Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai suggested discussing the problems of shared bicycles with LegCo Members. In addition, he enquired whether the bicycle track connecting Tai Po Waterfront Park and Ting Kok Road was a discussion topic chosen by the Environment, Housing and Works Committee (“EHWC”). - 35 -

142. Mr. LEE Yu-sau, Terence said that the LegCo Secretariat’s letter suggested that the number of discussion topics should not be more than five. As there were five committees under the TPDC, they could consider entrusting each committee to come up with a discussion topic of their own. In addition, apart from the TTC, the four other committees under the TPDC had come up with their own discussion topic.

143. The Chairman said that compared with the problems of shared bicycles, the above topic would have a long-term effect on the traffic among Tai Po District, North District and the urban area. As such, it was a more worthy discussion topic with LegCo Members.

144. Mr. AU Chun-wah opined that the problems of shared bicycles and shop front extension were both territory-wide problems. As such, he opined that it would be enough for DC Members to briefly raise their concerns to LegCo Members on that day, and in-depth discussion would not be necessary.

145. The TTC resolved to adopt the Chairman’s proposal of using “Request to improve the road facilities of Tolo Highway and construct new trunk roads to improve the traffic between Tai Po and the urban area” as one of the discussion topics with LegCo Members.

(II) Traffic planning issues outside Wan Tau Tong Shopping Centre

146. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had earlier received a lot of comments from a member of the public as regards the traffic planning issues outside Wan Tau Tong Shopping Centre, and had asked the TPDC to follow up. Firstly, he said that as the passenger pick-up and drop-off point for private vehicles outside Wan Tau Tong Shopping Centre was small and often fully parked with vehicles, other vehicles could only pick up and drop off passengers at the bus stop which was inconvenient. Secondly, he opined that the two electrical payment gates in front of Hiu Wan Road had made it inconvenient for the drivers. He said that it was a public area and should be opened for public use. Thirdly, he opined that bicycles were a means of transportation frequently used by Tai Po residents. As such, there was a huge demand for bicycle parking spaces. However, there was a shortage of bicycle parking spaces at the Tai Po Market MTR Station, the Tai Wo MTR Station, the pedestrian subway connecting the Tai Po Market MTR Station and Wan Tau Tong Estate, as well as the pavement and pedestrian subway from the Tai Wo MTR Station to Serenity Park in Tai Po. Nevertheless, the Government was busy with removing the bicycles and putting up no parking signage, and had failed to understand the residents’ needs. The Chairman said that works would be carried out at the bus stop in Wan Tau Tong Estate and the Secretariat had distributed the plans concerned to Members. Please refer to Annex VI for details.

- 36 -

147. Mr. Kenny WONG introduced Annex VI. He said that the TD had consulted the public, through the TPDO, as regards the improvement measures to the Wan Tau Tong Bus Terminus. The TD made the following adjustments upon receiving the comments:

(i) There would not be any changes to the roads outside Wan Tau Tong Shopping Centre so as to launch the project as soon as possible. (ii) 24-hour prohibited zones would be set up on both sides of the bus terminus. (iii) Widen the junction connecting with the passenger pick-up and drop-off point unloading area on Yat Nga Lane to facilitate the exit of vehicles.

In addition, his responses to public comments were as follows:

(i) The purpose of providing a passenger pick-up and drop-off point at a public transport interchange was mainly for members of the public to change to other means of transportation (such as from private vehicles to public buses, or allow public transportation to pick up and drop off passengers), but not for providing parking spaces for members of the public to go to the housing estate or shopping centre nearby. (ii) The area outside Wan Tau Tong Bus Terminus was a private lot, and the housing estate or shopping centre should provide parking facilities on their own for the drivers going there. Take Wan Tau Tong Estate as an example, if drivers would like to go to the shopping centre, they could use the car park facilities or the pick-up and drop-off point inside the gate on Yat Nga Lane. (iii) The installation of the two electric payment gates on private premises on Hiu Wan Road was the internal arrangement of the Wan Tau Tong Estate management office.

(iv) The provision of bicycle parking spaces could be divided into two main parts. Firstly, private development projects were responsible for providing bicycle parking spaces within the project area. Secondly, the Government would provide public bicycle parking spaces at popular recreation spots and the end of bicycle tracks. Currently, the Government provided around 6 000 public bicycle parking spaces in Tai Po District, of which around 3 600 were managed and maintained by the TD, and the remaining 2 400 by the other departments concerned.

148. Mr. Ken YU’s comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Thanked the TD for putting forward the improvement measures. He asked when the department would implement the measures concerned and when to arrange for the KMB to construct a cover at the bus terminus.

- 37 -

(ii) Similar to the passenger pick-up and drop-off points in other locations, the one in Wan Tau Tong Bus Terminus was not for parking vehicles. It was only for the drivers to stop their vehicles to pick up and drop off passengers and then drive away immediately. In addition, the car park in Wan Tau Tong Estate provided 30-minute free parking services, and he suggested drivers consider parking their vehicles there.

149. Mr. LAU Yung-wai said that the TD had earlier planned to convert the single-deck bicycle parking racks between the Tai Wo MTR station and the tunnel at Serenity Park to double-deck bicycle parking racks, and he asked about the current progress.

150. Mr. Kenny WONG said that the TD would provide another 90 or so bicycle parking spaces on Tai Po Tai Wo Road near the community centre by the end of 2017, and would provide additional bicycle parking spaces on On Po Road near Fu Shin Estate. In addition, the department was also studying the provision of additional bicycle parking spaces on Tai Po Road (Yuen Chau Tsai Section) near the spectacles bridge.

151. Mr. AU Chun-wah opined that it was necessary to increase the number of bicycle parking spaces, but he hoped that these public bicycle parking spaces would not turn into the parking spaces for shared bicycles. As such, he hoped that the department would seriously study ways to authorise the department to remove the illegally parked bicycles at the locations under its management in a short period of time.

152. Mr. LAU Yung-wai hoped that the TD would clarify whether another 90 bicycle parking spaces would be provided on Tai Po Tai Wo Road near the community centre, or the total number of bicycle parking spaces would be 90 after the increase. In addition, he asked about the total number of bicycle parking spaces there, and whether the new parking spaces would be provided in the form of double-deck parking racks.

153. Mr. Kenny WONG said that the TD planned to add 90 bicycle parking spaces on Tai Po Tai Wo Road near the community centre. Unlike the traditional U-shaped or upper and lower bicycle parking racks, the department would provide the 90 bicycle parking spaces by using the “1-up-1-down parking racks”. As regards the total number of parking spaces there, he would provide the information concerned for Mr. LAU after the meeting.

154. The Chairman hoped that the TD could have an in-depth understanding of and carefully consider the appeals the member of the public, and provide him with suitable assistance.

(III) Regarding the road signs for emergency vehicular access at Lane Square in Tai Po

155. The Chairman said that at the meeting on 8 November 2017, the EHWC discussed about - 38 - putting up the road signs for emergency vehicular access at Lane Square and handed the issue over to the TTC for follow-up action. He asked whether the TD could help put up the road signs concerned.

156. Mr. Kenny WONG responded as follows:

(i) The TD had reserved sufficient room in the roads it managed to allow emergency vehicles to go through and use them.

(ii) The purpose of putting up the road signs for emergency vehicular access was to show the emergency vehicles the way so as to drive into the building area for rescue efforts. (iii) There were two main types of buildings. The first was buildings approved by the Buildings Department (“BD”), where the department would require the registered persons to submit the plans and put up appropriate traffic signs and signage according to the guidelines concerned, so as to show the location of the emergency vehicular access. In addition, the department would also require the registered persons to provide sufficient room and capacity for the emergency vehicles. The other type of buildings was the New Territories Exempted Houses, where the design and regulation of their emergency vehicular access was under the responsibility of the Lands D.

157. The Chairman said that Lane Square in Tai Po was neither private premises nor an area approved by the BD. As such, he asked whether the TD could put up the road signs for emergency vehicular access there.

158. Mr. Kenny WONG said that putting up the road signs for emergency vehicular access had its particular purposes. As Lane Square in Tai Po was also a recognised access of emergency vehicles, it was necessary to first confirm whether it was an emergency vehicular access. Then the land managers would put up the road signs concerned.

159. The Chairman said that there was a removable fire services gates at the entrance to Lane Square in Tai Po, which could generally be interpreted as the road sign for emergency vehicular access. He asked the TD whether it meant that the department responsible for managing Lane Square in Tai Po should put up the road signs for emergency vehicular access.

160. Mr. AU Chun-wah said that the Fire Services Department (“FSD”) had confirmed that Lane Square in Tai Po was an emergency fire access, and that fire engines could enter the area.

161. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that Lane Square in Tai Po was a public area, and asked whether the HyD should be responsible for putting up the road signs for emergency vehicular access. - 39 -

162. Mr. HUI Ka-kit responded as follows:

(i) The TD and the HyD were responsible for the management and repair of the public passageways and roads at Lane Square in Tai Po respectively. (ii) The HyD was responsible for the repair of the red fire services gates at Lane Square in Tai Po. (iii) Generally speaking, the road signs for emergency vehicular access would only be put up near the buildings on leased lands, so as to tell which access could be used by emergency vehicles for rescue efforts. However, these road signs were not standard road signs on public roads. According to the Road Traffic Ordinance, these road signs did not have any legal effect. (iv) In some cases, public roads would be used as the access of emergency vehicles, and Lane Square in Tai Po was an example. After the HyD had identified these accesses, it would use tiles that could withstand the weight of emergency vehicles so as to protect the underground public utilities.

(v) The TD could instruct the HyD to put up any traffic signs on public roads. As regards Tai Po District, the HyD had not received any instructions from the TD requesting it to put up the road signs for emergency vehicular access at Lane Square in Tai Po.

163. Mr. AU Chun-wah said that Tai Po Complex was not situated on a leased land, and asked why the road signs for emergency vehicular access had been put up there.

164. Mr. HUI Ka-kit said that the pavement outside the Complex was divided into two parts. The part near the road was a public road area managed by the HyD, while the part near the Complex was land that had been leased to the Government departments for the construction of the Complex. Members might have noticed the road sign for emergency vehicular access on the public road. However, he clarified that the road sign concerned was only put up on leased land near the public road and was not managed by the HyD.

165. Mr. AU Chun-wah praised Mr. HUI Ka-kit’s professional response. He said that since it also took the FSD a lot of efforts to confirm that Lane Square in Tai Po was an emergency vehicular access, he hoped that the TD could help put up the road sign so as to further establish its status as an official emergency vehicular access.

166. Mr. Kenny WONG clarified that the TD was not responsible for the management and repair of emergency vehicular accesses, and would not assume the management of other informal roads. In addition, the roads managed by the department were suitable for use by emergency vehicles. - 40 -

167. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that the HyD did not ask the TD to assume the management of the road. From a procedural standpoint, the HyD needed the TD’s instruction so as to put up the road sign.

168. Mr. Kenny WONG said that since the TD was not responsible for managing Lane Square in Tai Po, it did not have the authority to instruct the HyD to put up any road sign there.

169. Mr. LO Hiu-fung said that he had written to the TD on numerous occasions requesting it to put up the road signs for emergency vehicular access next to the fire services gates, and was surprised by the HyD’s statement just now that it had never received any instructions from the TD. He said that the fire services gates were the entrance of emergency vehicles and he hoped that the departments concerned could clarify the facts.

170. The Chairman asked the TD and the HyD to study ways to put up the road signs for emergency vehicular access at Lane Square in Tai Po after the meeting, and report on the findings at the next meeting.

171. Mr. LI Kwok-ying opined that the TD, the HyD and the FSD should figure out which department was responsible for putting up the road signs for emergency vehicular access together.

XIV. Date of next meeting

172. The Chairman announced that the next meeting would be held at 2:30 p.m. on 12 January 2018 (Friday).

173. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:53 p.m.

Tai Po District Council Secretariat December 2017