HK$12 BILLION:

THE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE CITY’S DIRTIEST VEHICLES BY 2020

The government is collaborating with franchised bus companies to fit engines with devices to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide. The programme started in June and will see 1,400 buses fitted with the devices by the end of 2016, says Loh. Since 2011, transport operators have been testing electric and hybrid vehicles under the government’s Pilot Green Transport Fund. By July this year, 670 electric vehicles were in use, up from fewer than 100 in 2010. But not everyone is optimistic about the potential of such vehicles. William Louey, director of Kowloon Motor Bus Company (KMB), which operates the city’s largest bus fleet, is sceptical about the practicality of battery-powered vehicles (see interview).