Taxi and minibus owners are up in arms over a decision by the Transport Department to relax restrictions on so-called residents' services (RS) buses. The buses are a service provided by non-franchised public buses.

Taxi and minibus operators say the RS buses will take away business and exert a negative effect on their incomes. Ng Kwan-shing, the convener of the Alliance of Taxi and Minibus Operators Objecting to the Relaxation of Licensing Requirements for RS Buses, said the non-franchised public buses are also able to engage in school transport, and other activities, allowing for an overall increase in the number of non-franchised buses on the street.

The Transport Department said there are 7,083 registered non-franchised public buses in the territory. The role of those buses is to relieve heavy demand on franchised bus and green minibus services, primarily during peak hours.

There are eight types of service provided by the non-franchised public buses for specific groups of passengers. These include tour and hotel services, student transportation, residents' service, corporate employees services and so on.

The protest group noted that the department without consulting the industry, increased the number of residents' service buses on each estate, from the original two to 10 on July 26. The group complained the department also granted concessions on the routing for this kind of bus, all adding up to lost revenue for taxi and minibuses.

The protest group also said the decision upset the role of different transport assets in the system, depriving some of their traditional areas of operation. The spokesman called for a meeting with the authority as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Non-franchised Public Buses Workers Association says it will scale down a planned strike on Friday, and hold a small rally instead, since the department has granted concessions.

If there was a strike, 200 to 300 lines of residents' services buses would stop operating and 200,000 to 300,000 people would be affected, the employee group said last month when it announced the planned industrial action.

It added the non-franchised public buses industry was dissatisfied with the department's strict regulation and high penalties for the services. The employee group complained the problem had gone on for many years.

The Convener of the Association Ip Wing-ching said on Wednesday the group had negotiated with the department earlier, and demanded the authority increase the number of backup residents' services buses, strengthen the reporting mechanism for sudden accidents and review some of the penalties.

A spokeswoman for the Transport Department responded that the roles of taxis, minibus and non-franchised buses don't have fundamental conflict, but have different functions in the transport system. She explained the relaxation of student service endorsement was made in response to the need of the education sector and a request from the non-franchised bus trade, and to facilitate the operators to deploy their vehicles flexibly.

The department will keep communication with the both sides and listen to their opinions, she added.

fanfeifei@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/09/2012 page1)