West Rail vs. Bus - Lingnan University Library

after the opening of the West Rail. It aims at coping with the demand of residents and
their changes in the habit of transportation. But residents complained about the
deterioration of bus service in West New Territories. Many of the bus routes have
either decreased its frequency, changed its routing or have been cancelled. They
argued that Transport Department forces them to on travel West Rail. Also, residents
complained that the Light Rail and feeder bus routes of West Rail could not cope with
the demand, which led to congestion problems. The comparison of the bus routes and
Light Rail service before or after the operation of the West Rail is discussed below.
From Appendix 2, most of the bus routes have decreased their frequency
and some have been cancelled. For example, 63M is the most controversial route that
was cancelled, yet it was the fastest and the only directed route running between Tuen
Mun and Tsing Yi. Although 68A has been extended to Tsing Yi after the cancellation
of 63M, it takes much longer to go to Tsing Yi via Tsuen Wan and Kwai Fong. Some
routes that face direct competition with the West Rail like 68X and K2P have also
decreased their frequency. It means that the passenger amount of the bus routes is
decreasing. On the other hand, the effect on those routes that do not pose direct
competition to West Rail is much smaller. For example, most of the routes linking
Tuen Mun and East Kowloon like 258D and 259D have increased its frequency to
strengthen their services. This comparison indicated that some of the passengers have
15