Nov 28, 2008 – SCMP
I refer to the letters by Mary Chan (“Why allow polluting buses?”, November 17) and Charlie Chan (“Government and bus companies trying hard to curb pollution”, November 19). Hong Kong is still behind many major world-class cities in terms of introducing and implementing new pollution-reduction vehicles.
For example, more than 60 per cent of London’s huge bus fleet already meets Euro III emissions while the remainder have met Euro II standards. For Hong Kong, Euro II has not been implemented throughout the SAR. Only 84 per cent of buses will achieve this standard by 2011.
Nonetheless, unlike Ms Chan I still think buses are much more efficient than private cars and taxis in terms of emissions and space. Even if half-full, taxis are much less efficient as they occupy much more space just to transport a few (or sometimes only one) passengers. However, I do agree that overlapping bus routes should be adjusted to reduce stops.
Samuel Chan, Sha Tin