A spokesman for the Transport Department (TD) announced today (April 29) that as many cross-boundary passengers are expected to travel via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) during the Labour Day holidays, the TD has collaborated with relevant operators to strengthen the local and cross-boundary public transport services of the HZMB Hong Kong Port (HKP) by implementing the following measures in order to meet the festive transport demands.
      
     The HZMB shuttle bus operator will deploy about 190 buses to strengthen the shuttle bus service.  Depending on the passenger flow at the ports of the three places, the operator will appropriately deploy the vehicles to cater for the passenger demand during peak periods. Moreover, the provision of pre-booking service for group visitors will continue so as to encourage tour groups to take the shuttle bus service by pre-booking of tickets or chartering a bus. This can help better manage the passenger flow at different time periods of the day and avoid having too many group visitors arriving at and departing from the HKP at the same time. The waiting and queuing facilities for shuttle bus passengers at the HKP, such as separation of waiting areas and erection of directional signs, have also been further enhanced to efficiently divert the group and individual passenger flow heading to Zhuhai and Macao, and the operator will maintain the boarding and alighting order by providing sufficient staff.
      
     For cross-boundary coach services, an additional ad-hoc quota of 200 has been issued to the existing Guangdong/Hong Kong and Hong Kong/Macao cross-boundary coach operators from today to May 4, increasing the daily trips from 400 to 600 to meet the passenger demand during the holidays. The operators of cross-boundary coach services will also deploy adequate staff at the HKP and major stops in the city proper to keep the queueing and boarding of passengers in order.
      
     For local public transport services, the TD and bus operators will closely monitor the service level of the eight A routes and two B routes of franchised bus services with high patronage at the HKP. Additional departures will operate during the peak periods to cope with the peak demand. For the A routes, bus operators will arrange 12 spare buses at the HKP to operate special departures to the city proper.  For the B routes, bus operators will deploy five additional buses to strengthen the services of route nos. B5 and B6. In the meantime, bus operators will arrange for staff at the HKP to maintain the boarding and alighting order. Moreover, the en-route bus stop for New Lantao Bus route no. B6 on Tat Tung Road in Tung Chung (HKP bound) has been relocated to Tung Chung Temporary Bus Terminus since April 27 (Saturday), so as to enhance the passenger waiting environment and minimise the impact on the district.
      
     In order to encourage local coaches to make use of the coach pick-up facilities at the HKP and match the travelling pattern of visitors, the TD has increased timeslots for the morning session for application for picking-up coach passengers at the HKP. The TD has also provided holding areas near the coach pick-up area so that the coaches can wait temporarily at the holding areas before entering the pick-up area, with a view to meeting their operational needs.
      
     The TD will closely monitor the operations of local and cross-boundary transport services at the HKP during the Labour Day holidays and will liaise with the operators to implement appropriate measures to cater for passenger demand when necessary.
      
     Apart from the HZMB HKP, it is expected that the number of cross-boundary passengers at other land boundary control points (such as Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau and Shenzhen Bay Port) will also increase. The spokesman appeals to travellers to plan their journeys in advance and avoid crossing the boundary at peak periods. When facing busy traffic at the control points, the waiting time for public transport services may be longer than usual and passengers should obey the orders and follow the instructions of the Police and staff of the relevant public transport operators on site.

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, April 29, 2019 is 103.8 (down 0.1 against last Saturday's index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, April 27, 2019 was 103.9 (same as last Friday's index).

     The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, will depart for Nadi, Fiji, tomorrow night (April 30) for the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
 
     On the sidelines of the meeting, he will meet with the President of the ADB, Mr Takehiko Nakao, ADB senior personnel, other financial officials and business leaders attending the meeting.
 
     Mr Lau will return to Hong Kong on May 5. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, will act as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury.

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     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has announced that the lifesaving services at Golden Beach in Tuen Mun District resumed today (April 29). The lifesaving services at the beach were suspended earlier due to an insufficient number of lifeguards on duty.

     â€‹The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (April 29) announced the performance ratings of registered lift and escalator contractors for the past 12 months (from April 2018 to March 2019) for public reference.
      
     According to the rating results, 31 registered lift contractors and 26 registered escalator contractors were awarded the Safety Star. Among these contractors, 14 registered lift contractors and 18 registered escalator contractors had not been found non-compliant with the safety and maintenance requirements as reported in the last two consecutive announcements of performance results, and were therefore given the highest rating of five Quality Stars. The EMSD conducted 10,494 inspections of lifts and escalators during the period.
 
     The rating results, conviction records, summaries of the warning letters and equipment failure records are available on the EMSD's website (www.emsd.gov.hk/emsd/eng/pps/le_pub_mpr.shtml).