The Equestrian Company has set aside 75 shuttle buses to ferry spectators between train stations and the two equestrian venues and reiterated that it is capable of evacuating 15,000 people in just one hour in case of emergency.

Free shuttle bus services to the two venues are available at University and Fanling train stations and will start operating two hours before the start of morning events until about 1.5 hours after the end of events each day.

The Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre of the Transport Department will monitor closely the traffic jointly with the police, public transport operators and relevant parties.

Special traffic arrangements will take effect during the events.

For instance, a section of Yuen Wo Road where it meets Sha Tin Road will be closed from Friday until the end of the events, while a loading and unloading bay on Fanling Station Road will be a restricted zone on August 11.

As some bus services in Sheung Shui will be suspended, the Equestrian Company will provide free shuttle bus services between On Po Village, Cheung Lek, Tsiu Keng and Sheung Shui Station at an interval of six to eight minutes.

Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel is designated as the Olympic Family Hotel. Shuttle bus services will be available there for spectators to travel between places such as Hong Kong International Airport and the venues.

At the same time, part of the parking zone outside the hotel on Mody Road will be designated as a 24-hour restricted zone until September 12.

"The traffic measures are designed to maintain smooth traffic flow and to minimize the influence brought to the public," said Assistant Commissioner for Transport (New Territories) Cindy Law.

She called on spectators to take public transport as no private vehicles will be allowed entry into the venues.

"We appeal to ticket holders to arrive at the venues about two hours before the start of the events," said Leung Yan-kit, Chief Inspector (Development) of Police Traffic Branch Headquarters, adding that the police have sufficient manpower to control the pedestrian flow.

Meanwhile, 24 horses to be participating in the events failed to arrive in Hong Kong as scheduled yesterday due to tropical storm Kammuri.

Fourteen horses were offloaded from a plane before departure in Amsterdam, while another 10 were offloaded in Dubai from a flight en route from Amsterdam to Hong Kong.

Keith Chau, senior manager of the Equestrian Company, said the horses will arrive once the weather clears up and the delay will not affect the events.

He confirmed that six fences at the Sha Tin site collapsed during the storm but the damages were minor and had been fixed.

All the Olympic horses that had arrived earlier stayed in stables while the city was battered by the severe tropical storm.

"The horses have taken advantage of the wet weather and are resting in the stables. They are in very good condition," a spokesman for the Equestrian Company said.

(HK Edition 08/07/2008 page1)