Service adjustments of some franchised bus routes

     The Transport Department (TD) said today (March 29) that following the situation of bus captains of the franchised bus companies being absent has been improving, and the announcement that government departments will resume public services gradually from April 1 with a view to largely resuming normal public services from April 21, the TD has examined the new round of applications for service adjustments from franchised bus companies taking into account factors such as the latest absence situation of the bus captains of franchised bus companies, the extent of the patronage drop, occupancy, the availability of alternative public transport services and efficient deployment of resources, and has requested franchised bus companies to resume the services of 79 out of 140 routes that were previously approved for temporary service suspension. For those daytime routes approved for frequency adjustment, the headway in general during peak periods will be lengthened by no more than 10 minutes, and the extended headway will not exceed 30 minutes.
      
     To align with the social distancing measures being implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the community and to cope with the drop in patronage, the TD has approved the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited, New World First Bus Services Limited, Citybus Limited, Long Win Bus Company Limited and New Lantao Bus Co (1973) Limited to implement temporary service suspension of 61 routes from March 31 to April 10 inclusive, mainly including the supplementary services in peak periods, recreational routes operated during weekends and overnight services. These routes have their own main routes or have alternative public transport services available to serve passengers.
      
     The TD will continue to closely monitor the operational situation, keep close communication with the bus companies and consider the actual circumstances to review the service adjustments and adjust the services according to passenger demand.
      
     In addition, the frequencies of individual bus routes mainly serving tourists or heading to land boundary control points or the airport have already been adjusted to limited service or have suspended service due to the anti-pandemic measures on boundary control implemented earlier.

     For details of the service adjustments, please note the announcements on the websites of the bus companies: