<div>Alan,</div><div> </div>Maximum bus age of 18 years is not mandatory but part of an agreement reached between TD and franchised bus companies. So if a bus company would like to push it through on a legality, they still can.<div> </div><div>Hope this clarifies.</div><div>Alok</div><div> <div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 4:56 PM, Howes, Alan P <<a href="mailto:Alan.Howes@atkinsglobal.com">Alan.Howes@atkinsglobal.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div> Not sure I follow this, Alok - Item 3, "TD does not specify a maximum bus age for franchised buses ...", seems at variance with items 1 and 4 which specify an 18-year maximum life. Regards, Alan Atkins Transport Planning (writing from Kuwait) <div><div></div><div class="h5"> --- In <a href="mailto:sustran-discuss@yahoogroups.com" target="_blank">sustran-discuss@yahoogroups.com</a>, Jains <alok.priyanka@...> wrote: > > Dear Mike, > > To add to an excellent summary of bus regulations in Hong Kong, I have > the following extracted from a past paper that I wrote on a similar issue: > > 1. Public Bus Services Ordinance (PBSO) requires a Certificate of > Fitness > (COF) examination with frame check when a bus reaches 17 years of age > should the bus companies wish to extend the license for 1 more year, > which is understood to be the maximum age permitted by Transport > Department (TD) since 1998. The normal practice of the franchised bus > companies is to retire their buses when they reach the age of 17 years > as the cost of COF examination does not generally justify a 1-year life extension. > > 2. Buses need to pass an annual examination before they can be > re-licensed every year. At year 17, TD requires an inspection to be > carried out on the structural frame condition of the bus frame (i.e. > COF inspection), which requires extensive dismantling of the body parts. > > 3. TD does not specify a maximum bus age for franchised buses and > would normally allow re-licensing of buses if they pass the annual > vehicle examinations (with COF inspection at age 17 and every three > years onwards, i.e. at age 20 and 23 etc); > > 4. By mutual agreement, TD and franchised bus operators decided that > franchised buses should be subject to mandatory retirement when they > reach the 18th anniversary of their date of 1st registration. > > 5. For non-franchised buses (NFB), as long as they are able to pass > the COF or COR there is no agreement on a mandatory age for > retirement. However, the average age of NFBs are 6.7 years and they > normally retire at about 10 - 12 years of age. > > 6. In his policy address the Chief Executive indicated that the > Government would spend $3.2 billion to provide an incentive for the > early replacement of 74,000 pre-Euro and Euro I diesel commercial > vehicles with new vehicles meeting Euro IV exhaust emission standards. > The Government would allow pre-Euro vehicle owners 18 months and Euro > I vehicle owners three years to take up the offer. > If you wish to discuss this further, contact me off-list. > > Best Regards > Alok </div></div>-- Alan Howes Managing Consultant Transport Planning & Management ATKINS Currently working in Kuwait - Tel: + 965 2295 8585 Mobile: 00 44 7952 464335 Canning Exchange, 10 Canning Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EG Direct Dial: 0131 221 5694 Switchboard: 0131 221 5700 Fax: 0131 221 5751 Email: <a href="mailto:alan.howes@atkinsglobal.com" target="_blank">alan.howes@atkinsglobal.com</a> <a href="http://www.atkinsglobal.com" target="_blank">www.atkinsglobal.com</a> This email and any attached files are confidential and copyright protected. 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