1

Suppose you are at a large Public Transport Interchange (PTI) and have to travel by

public transport from one place to another, what do you think ?

Which transport is suitable for my journey ?

Where is the exact queue for that transport ?

If there are more than one, which one is best ?

However, the best one has a long queue, should I consider others ?

If I cannot get there by one transport, which transport(s) & route(s) should I take then ?

When will the transport be available ?

If the transport is not yet available, what can I do to kill the waiting time ?

If I do not want dead queuing, where can I go yet without walking too far ?

To satisfy your needs, there should be a PTI with

display & continuous updates of all the available transports with destination, intermediate

stop, fare, estimated travelling time, next arrival etc. at conspicuous location

on-line display of all the road & tunnel traffic condition currently provided by the

Transport Department (TD) on Internet

one body to monitor the availability of various transports to the PTI & co-ordination with

them for make-up services in case of long queue or accidents/congestion elsewhere

face-to-face passenger enquiry/pre-journey assistance (including information of the

transports at next changing point)

queuing place in clean environment with clean ventilation, well maintained facilities and

safe & sufficient accessibility to above-the-interchange floors

eye-catching (& audio) display of information & entertainment through various media (e.g.

screen display, billboard, light box, props)

enclosed restroom with automatic vending/teller machines for those who do not want

dead queuing

2

For the time being, only a few large PTIs e.g. Sha Tin New Town Plaza are provided

yet with only part of the above mentioned by Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB).

PTI is currently provided in two ways. One, developer may build at its own cost PTI

so as to seize favourable consideration of its development application. Second, the

Transport Department (TD) may require the Lands Department to incorporate PTI into a land

lease. Whether the PTI upon completion will be handed over to TD depends on funding

from the Government; otherwise the developer will have to bear the management

responsibility. Regardless of either type, most PTIs have the following problems :-

Passengers have to ask the bus driver/manager for information of transport or route

which may not be convenient or successful.

Even you know which bus to take, you may need time to locate where its queue is.

If there are more than one transports suitable for your journey, it may take time & effort

to compare their travelling time.

No matter how many transports are suitable for your journey, it is difficult to know their

next arrival relative to their total travelling time. Thus, passengers may make the wrong

choice of transport leading to unnecessary waste of time, and in TD’s terminology

“economic productivity”.

In case of long queue, you may never know whether the next arrival is coming or is being

delayed by accident/congestion elsewhere. Thus, your waiting time may be futile and

another waste of economic productivity.

While waiting for bus, a large amount of passengers may stand idle with nothing to do.

Another waste of economic productivity.

Parking lanes may be under-utilized with less than expected transports partly due to

unpopularity of the interchange.

Parking lanes may be over-crowded due to lanes provided less than demanded.

Considerable costs are incurred in lighting, ventilation & cleaning that no party would like

to bear.

Advertising & other commercial opportunities are dissipated due to the “non-profit-

making” nature of PTI.

3

“The deficiency in existing situation leads to the possibility of potential opportunities”

As the Government’s policy is to have railways as backbone service & to reach

specific locations by bus, mini-bus, ferry, tram, taxi etc, PTI would be provided in new railway

developments apart from strategic locations. Besides, the setting up of Urban Renewal

Authority will speed up large-scale redevelopment of urban areas thus leading to more

potential PTIs. Together with the above mentioned problems, these factors lead to a large &

continuing business - Facilities Management in PTI.

The Facilities Management (FM) in PTI will include

design, installation, operation, cleaning, repair & maintenance of the PTI facilities :-

- transport lanes, queuing, loading/unloading areas, information stand, signage & road

marking, take-away shops, ATM, restroom, escalator, staircases to above

interchange floors etc.

- passenger-dependent or time-controlled lighting & ventilation, fire fighting equipment,

fire resistant doors & facilities etc.

- billboards, light boxes, screen displays, advertising props etc.

- on-line information displays of transports provided at the PTI, road & tunnel traffic

condition provided by TD

marketing & leasing of area for take-away shops, ATM etc. within the PTI

marketing & leasing of circulation area, walls, columns, ceiling, billboard, light box,

screen display, props etc. for advertising or other commercial activities within the PTI

on-site monitoring of the availability of various transports to the PTI & co-ordination with

them for make-up services in case of long queue, accidents/congestion elsewhere

provision of face-to-face passenger enquiry/pre-journey assistance

management of transport movement within the PTI as with the electronic display

technology the transport lanes and queuing areas can be easily re-designated for

different transports and routes

continuous review of space & transport movement efficiency within the PTI, its impact on

road traffic & capacity and other terminus

4

To seize the business opportunities behind, you will need to

prepare to TD/Sun Hung Kai a pilot scheme proposal with visualizations on how existing PTI

could be revamped to improve its popularity, transport services, utilization and at the same

time the Government’s or the owner’s financial burden. The critical condition is that the

restrictions of PTI could be relaxed to include advertising and other equivalent commercial

uses for the self-financing of the PTI operation. To secure the proper running of the PTI, the

financial arrangement could be

where any residual (i.e. 1 - A%) goes to a reserve fund for future capital works/renovation of

the PTI. The reserve fund would be crucial to the Government’s policy support of the

proposal.

In parallel, this proposal could be incorporated into Sun Hung Kai’s

application/lobbying with the Government for property developments so as to increase the

chance of success. In either way should the proposal be accepted, KMB with its media arm

“Roadshow” will have an exclusive strength to be the “First Facilities Manager in Transport”

as 74% bus services affecting 3.7 million daily passengers are provided by KMB. Other

developers will follow to propose as much as possible PTI for their developments yet TD

may not be willing to take over, and may not consider the above financial arrangement viable

for all PTIs. Thus, KMB will be an exclusive provider of these services for a considerable

period of time that enables it to consolidate experience to outweigh other potential

competitors e.g. Citybus and First Bus that is under New World Development.

In fact, the business does not confine to individual PTI. It extends to the connection

points with it as PTIs will interact with each other via some sort of transports. Close co-

ordination between PTIs at different locations will further increase the efficiency of transport

movement as the economies of scale in transport planning, co-ordination & management will

exist. This will bring lower contractor fee for TD’s contract, more potential customers to

developers’ properties and more possible savings in passengers’ time & money. Thus, KMB

will be able to capitalize on what it invests as the number of contracts accumulates.

End

Revenue to TD = Advertising & other

commercial revenues x A %the above mentioned costs ( - )