A
brief history of the Hong Kong minibus - by Philip
In 1967,
there was a riot in Hong Kong and
the public transport service was disturbed severely, many buses
couldn't
go out to serve as many bus drivers join the strike, Some buses are
destroyed
by the arsonists. As a result, some mini buses with 9 seats started to
serve the public, it was illegal at that time as some members in the
Transport
consultation board opposed to declare mini bus as legal. As time passed
on, as the bus services still were not adequate and in the late 1960s,
mini buses became legal and they had 14 seats.
In 1972,
there was Green Mini Buses, they
are similar to buses, both of them have fixed routes, fares and
timetable.
Hong Kong government's policy is encouraging the mini buses operate as
the green one. Also in 1980s, the mini bus turned into 16 seats. 60% of
mini buses are the green one.
For the
red mini buses, they can choose the
route and set the fare according to the owners and drivers' decision.
However
in Hong Kong, many red mini bus routes are controlled by the triad
society
and the drivers need to pay part of their income to join the routes. In
Hong Kong island, only one route, (Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan) can be
joined without paying money to the triad gangs.
In these
few years, many mini buses were
involved in serious accidents because of the careless and rude driving
attitude of drivers. The mini buses received the largest amount of
complaints
among all the means of transportation. HKSAR government also launches
measurements
to reduce the accidents caused by the mini bus such as increasing the
penalties
etc.
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