Minutes of the 8th Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee Eastern District Council Date: 19 March 2019 (Tuesday) Time: 2:30 pm Venue: Eastern District Council Conference Room Present Time of Arrival Time of Departure (pm) (pm) Mr WONG Chi-chung, Dominic 2:30 end of meeting Mr WONG Chun-sing, Patrick 2:30 end of meeting Mr WONG Kwok-hing, BBS, MH 2:30 3:30 Mr KU Kwai-yiu 2:30 end of meeting Mr HO Ngai-kam, Stanley (Vice-chairman) 2:30 end of meeting Ms LI Chun-chau 2:30 end of meeting Mr LEE Chun-keung 2:30 end of meeting Mr LAM Sum-lim 2:30 end of meeting Mr LAM Kei-tung, George 2:30 4:00 Mr SHIU Ka-fai 2:30 end of meeting Mr HUNG Lin-cham, MH 2:30 end of meeting Mr CHUI Chi-kin 3:35 end of meeting Mr CHEUNG Kwok-cheong, Howard 3:05 end of meeting Mr LEUNG Siu-sun, Patrick 2:30 end of meeting Mr LEUNG Kwok-hung, David, MH 2:30 end of meeting Ms LEUNG Wing-man, Bonnie 2:30 end of meeting Mr HUI Ching-on 2:30 end of meeting Mr KWOK Wai-keung, JP 3:00 3:20 Mr MAK Tak-ching 2:30 4:20 Ms CHIK Kit-ling, Elaine 2:30 end of meeting Mr WONG Kin-pan, BBS, MH, JP 2:30 4:30 Mr WONG Kin-hing 2:30 end of meeting Dr CHIU Ka-yin, Andrew 2:30 end of meeting Mr CHIU Chi-keung, BBS 2:30 end of meeting Mr LAU Hing-yeung 2:30 end of meeting Ms CHOY So-yuk, BBS, JP 3:15 4:40 Mr CHENG Chi-sing 2:30 end of meeting Mr CHENG Tat-hung 2:30 end of meeting Mr LAI Chi-keong, Joseph 2:35 end of meeting Mr NGAN Chun-lim, BBS, MH (Chairman) 2:30 end of meeting Mr LO Wing-kwan, Frankie, MH 3:15 end of meeting Mr KUNG Pak-cheung, BBS, MH 2:30 end of meeting Mr HUI Ka-hoo, BBS, MH (co-opted member) 2:30 end of meeting Ms TSANG Cheuk-yi (co-opted 2:30 end of meeting member) Absent with Apologies Mr TING Kong-ho, Eddie Mr HUI Lam-hing Mr YEUNG Sze-chun In Regular Attendance (Government Representatives) Mr LO Cheuk-lun, Rayson Assistant District Officer (Eastern) 2, Eastern District Office Ms NG Yan-mei, Monie Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Eastern District Office Mr CHAO Ka-man, Stanley Senior Liaison Officer (1), Eastern District Office Mr LI Yiu-man, Louis Senior Transport Officer/Eastern, Transport Department Mr LAI Hiu-ping, Rex Engineer/Eastern 1, Transport Department Mr KWAN Wing-yip Engineer/Eastern 2, Transport Department Ms WAN Yuen-lam, Vivian Engineer/Eastern 3 and General, Transport Department Mr YAN Ki-kit District Engineer/North Point, Highways Department Mr CHAN Chi-shing OC District Traffic Team (Eastern District), Hong Kong Police Force Ms CHAN Yu-shan, Sandy Executive Officer I (District Council) 3, (Secretary) Eastern District Office In Attendance by Invitation (Representatives from the Government and Organisations) Ms TSUI Shuk Ting, Yvonne Senior Transport Officer/Bus Development (Hong Kong)2, Transport Department Mr MAK Hin Shun, Thomas Transport Officer/Bus Development (Hong Kong)2, Transport Department Mr SIN Chi-yin, Mistral Manager (Planning), New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited Mr Brian NG Chief Planning Officer, New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited Mr YUEN Chi-wai Assistant Operations Manager, New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited Miss Rosa HO Manager (Operations Department One - Traffic), New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited Mr Kevin LI Public Affairs Manager, New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited Ms Peggy WONG Assistant Manager (Planning and Development), The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited Mr Jeff TAM Manager (Public Affairs), The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited Mr LEUNG Ka-yin, Tommy Project Supervisor/Universal Accessibility, Civil Engineering and Development Department Mr YIP Wai-fu Senior Resident Engineer, WSP (Asia) Limited Mr LAW Man-chor Engineer/Projects 1, Transport Department Opening Remarks Action The Chairman welcomed all Members, government representatives and organisation representatives to the meeting. 3 Action I. Confirmation of the Draft Minutes of the 7th Meeting of TTC 2. Mr KU Kwai-yiu suggested to revise the phrase “to safeguard road safety” in the paragraph 12(b) to “to safeguard passenger safety”. 3. The Secretariat noted Member’s suggestion and would make the revision accordingly. 4. After the aforesaid revision, the TTC confirmed the minutes. II. Bus Route Planning Programme 2019 - 2020 for Eastern District (TTC Paper No. 8/19) 5. The Chairman welcomed Ms Yvonne TSUI, Senior Transport Officer/Bus Development (Hong Kong)2 and Mr Thomas MAK, Transport Officer/Bus Development (Hong Kong)2 of the Transport Department (TD), Mr Mistral SIN, Manager (Planning), Mr Brian NG, Chief Planning Officer, Mr YUEN Chi-wai, Assistant Operations Manager, Miss Rosa HO, Manager, Operations Department One (Traffic) and Mr Kevin LI, Public Affairs Manager of New World First Bus Services Limited/Citybus Limited (Citybus & NWFB), and Ms Peggy WONG, Assistant Manager (Planning and Development) and Mr Jeff TAM, Manager (Public Affairs) of Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) to the meeting. Ms Yvonne TSUI of the TD briefed Members on Paper No 8/19. 6. The views and enquiries of 25 Members about the subject were summarised as follows: (a) Mr CHENG Tat-hung pointed out that the Eastern District Council (EDC) has been making proactive efforts to resume the service frequency of Route No. 18 since four years ago and yet it took the TD four years to complete the review. He hoped the TD would make improvement when conducting bus route review in future. He supported the enhancement in the service quality of Route No. 18 and hoped that the TD could implement the proposals as soon as practicable. He suggested that the TD should carry out a timely review after the extension of service hours of Route No. 18 during weekdays and also should consider resuming the service of Route No. 18 during weekends. In addition, he requested the TD to further elaborate on the details of the enhancement plan of Route No. 720X. He suggested the TTC to 4 Action discuss first the TD’s proposal for the bus services to be introduced and leave the proposal for other routes till the next meeting. (b) Mr Patrick LEUNG said that North Point residents had keen demand for bus services to Central and Sheung Wan and he supported the service enhancement of Route No. 18 during weekdays. He also hoped that the TD would consider providing the service during weekends. Besides, he pointed out that currently there were already enormous pedestrian and vehicular flows on King’s Road. Therefore, he did not agree with the provision of bus stops at Bo Fung Gardens and Sunway Gardens upon the introduction of new bus routes. (c) Mr CHENG Chi-sing commended the TD for continuously improving the service quality of Route No. 18 and he supported the TD’s proposal. He also hoped that the TD would endorse the provision of service by Route No. 18 during weekends and public holidays. In addition, he expressed regret over the TD’s failure to consider the long-standing requests of Members on bus services in the Bus Route Planning Programme (BRPP) for the current year. He hoped that Route No. 8H could maintain its normal frequency after its first trip at 7:30 a.m. in order to serve members of the public for their visit to the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital for follow-up medical appointments in the morning. He also urged the bus company to erect shelters and provide chairs for the bus stop of Route No. 8H at Hong Kong Stadium, Eastern Hospital Road. (d) Ms TSANG Cheuk-yi supported the service enhancement of Route No. 18 by the bus company. In addition, she hoped that the bus company would enhance the services of the real-time arrival information system. (e) Mr David LEUNG had no comment on the service enhancement of Route No. 18. However, he expressed concern that the service coverage of the route might overlap with that of the current railway network, hence the bus route lacked competitiveness. He criticised that most bus routes in the BRPP for the current year ran from the New Territories and that there had not been proposals focusing on the bus service improvement in Eastern District. He requested the TD to withdraw the Paper and make amendments before submission to the TTC for discussion again. 5 Action (f) Mr WONG Kwok-hing was disappointed that the BRPP for the current year had failed to address Members’ requests in the past on bus service enhancement. He pointed out that bus companies should introduce routes plying between Siu Sai Wan and Sai Wan upon the commissioning of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass (the CWB). He also urged bus companies to address the inconvenience for Eastern District residents who currently had to make excessive number of interchanges for accessing Hong Kong West Kowloon Station of High Speed Rail. (g) Ms LI Chun-chau was disappointed that the BRPP for the current year failed to address the requests of Chai Wan residents and she strongly requested the TD to scrutinise the demand for bus services by Chai Wan residents. (h) Mr KU Kwai-yiu pointed out that in the BRPP for the current year, only the proposal for Route No.