High capacity: The boundary crossing in the Lok Ma Chau terminus building will be able to handle up to 150,000 passengers a day.

The public transport arrangements at the Sheung Shui to Lok Ma Chau spur line will offer cross-boundary passengers more choices, Transport Advisory Committee Chairman Teresa Cheng says.

The construction of the 7.4km new rail is nearing completion, scheduled to open around the middle of this year.

Given the transport policy of having rail as the backbone of the transport system, and most of the non-rail passenger demand to the Lok Ma Chau terminus will be from the northwest New Territories, one franchised bus route to/from Yuen Long East, one green minibus route to/from Yuen Long town centre and the provision of urban and New Territories taxi services in the public transport terminus are planned.

"The provision of public transport services at the new boundary crossing would provide more choices to cross-boundary passengers, and would facilitate cross-boundary people flow between Hong Kong and the Mainland," said Ms Cheng.

Traffic-accident deaths fall

On traffic-accident trends, Ms Cheng noted the number of traffic-accident deaths dropped 70% from the peak of 482 in 1973 to the provisional figure of 146 last year, though the population rose from 3 million to nearly 7 million and the number of licensed vehicles rose from 30,000 to 550,000 over the past 50 years.

"The continuous improvement in the road-safety situation in Hong Kong was surely the result of contribution and commitment of the whole community," Ms Cheng added.