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Other Road-Based Public Transport8.2.12 "Special purpose bus" (SPB) is a class of vehicle defined for transport planningpurposes to account for non-franchised public and private buses. SPBs cover a widerange of specialised services, including school buses, residential buses for estates,works buses for factories, tour buses and some buses for the disabled. In total theseaccounted in 1 988 for some 5% of the daily public transport boardings.8.2.1 3 All of the operators listed in Table 8.1 are private, with the notable exceptions of thetwo rail corporations: the MTRC and KCRC. Government monitors all privatelyoperated public transport operations and, except for red minibuses, special purposebuses and smaller ferries, makes frequent suggestions to improve and rationaliseservices. These suggestions have force since changes in fares and service schedulesproposed by the operators have to be agreed with Government. Government directlysets the fare tariffs for taxis, adjusting and sealing the taximeters which register thefare. The rail corporations are charged with running their operations on a prudentcommercial basis. They have the power to set their own fares, notifying Governmentof their intentions in advance.8.3 Demand Projections for Public Transport8.3.1 The projections of public transport patronage depend critically on the assumptionsabout population and employment. These assumptions were set out in detail inChapter 4. The overall picture is one of decreasing population and employment inurban Kowloon, balanced by growth on Hong Kong Island and in the NewTerritories. Population growth is expected to be particularly strong in the NewTowns with a projected ....... increase of one million between 1986 andment growth is expected to be strong on Hong Kong island, with a projected 43%grpwtfi .......In ..... pverair'eWploYrrient including 200 000, additional jobs projected, for theCentral ........ and Wan Chai. The new towns are projected to attract jobs but not insufficient numbers to be self-contained in terms of employment opportunities forthe population.8.3.2 The major impact on travel demand of these assumptions is likely to be as follows:(1) The increasing jmp^Qitance, of the north shore of Hong .........K.oiigJMaadjs likely tolead to a large increase in cross harbour 'travel.(2) The new towns are likely to generate substantial out-bound commuting, muchof which would be long distance, as the projected increase in jobs to match thenew town population growth will be located on Hong Kong Island.(3) The projected loss of population and jobs in urban Kowloon and Tsuen Wanbetween 1 986 and 2001 would substantially reduce the number of trips startingand ending within the area of urban Kowloon. Therefore, an increasingproportion of the travel on the streets of Kowloon would be longer distancecommuting trips from the new towns, rather than short distance local trips.(4) The land use assumptions are likely to emphasise, rather than reduce, thepeaking problems of the rail modes, by emphasising the proportion of longdistance commuting.8.3.3 The demand for travel by scheduled public transport (excluding taxis and SPBs) isshown by area in Table 8.2 comparing 1986 with 1996. The growth is in line withthe assumed land use changes. ([here is an overall growth of 27% in total publictransport travel, but this combines a 12% decrease in urban Kowloon and TsuenWan, with increases of 25% for internal movements on Hong Kong Island jyjjyiQLcrjoss-harhojjir travel, 75% for movements to and from the New Territories and 98%for movements within the New Territories. Increases in the New Territories areassociated with the growtKof the new towns in the North-east and North-west NewTerritories and at Junk Bay. }153