The Transport Department (TD) announced today (December 11) that the service adjustments for some bus routes have been approved after due consideration as there has been a drastic drop in patronage due to the implementation of further tightening measures to reduce the flow of people and social contact to stop COVID-19 spreading in the community.
To cope with the decreasing passenger demand and ensure efficient use of resources, Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB), New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB), Citybus Limited (Citybus) and New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited (NLB) have submitted applications to the TD for temporary service adjustment for some bus routes after reviewing their operational and service arrangements. The TD has examined the applications taking into account factors such as the extent of the patronage drop of the routes concerned, occupancy, the impact of the proposed service adjustment on the passenger waiting time, efficient use of bus resources deployment and public acceptability of the proposed frequency adjustment, and has approved the following bus companies to adjust the frequencies of a total of 420 routes from December 14 to December 20. The details are as follows.
| Bus company | No. of routes approved for frequency adjustment |
| KMB | 267 |
| NWFB | 51 |
| Citybus (except airport and North Lantau routes) | 60 |
| KMB/NWFB jointly operated | 21 |
| KMB/Citybus jointly operated | 20 |
| NLB | 1 |
| Total | 420 |
Among the routes approved for frequency adjustment, in general the headway before 9pm (during peak and off-peak periods) will be lengthened by no more than five minutes while the headway after 9pm will be lengthened by no more than 10 minutes, and the extended headway will not exceed 30 minutes. Eight bus routes with extremely low patronage have been approved to be suspended or have operating hours shortened. The TD has requested the bus companies to closely monitor the change in passenger demand and consider strengthening services whenever necessary, and to allow more space for passengers if resources permit.
The service adjustments for the relevant bus routes have been approved for a period of seven days. The TD will consider the actual circumstances to review the service adjustments on a continuous basis, and keep close communication with the bus companies to closely monitor the operational situation and adjust the services according to passenger demand.
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