HONG KONG: Commuters at a loss trying to determine the most convenient or cheapest route to their destinations have a new ally - a website developed by the Transport Department and the Polytechnic University land surveying and geo-informatics department.

The website http://ptes.td.gov.hk went into operation yesterday, giving users free point to point searches for public transport.

Passengers can search possible routes based on the number of interchanges, fare, estimated time of travel and preferred transport mode.

Passengers can also check the relevant boarding, alighting and interchange locations for the selected route from a map on the website. Information on concessions on interchanges is also shown.

The public transport services include MTR, Light Rail Transit, franchised buses, green minibuses, trams, peak trams, ferries, cross boundary coaches to Lok Ma Chau/ Huanggang and the bus to Ma Wan and Discovery Bay.

Searches for detailed information on particular public transport routes are accommodated by inputting the route number or service type.

Transport Department assistant commissioner Tsang King-man said red minibuses are excluded from the website.

"Most red minibuses do not have a fixed route. The fares for red minibus are also being constantly changed," he said. "Including red minibus in the system is a complicated task. The information may not be accurate, and even be misleading to the users."

Tsang hoped the public can be encouraged to take public transport by having access to information on the cheapest and best routes.

"We hope that the service can provide motorists with useful information and encourage them to make use of public transport instead of driving, with the aim of creating an environment with less emissions," he said.

Tsang believed the website will be competitive compared with similar services provided by the private sector.

"Most of the available public transport point-to-point route search services on the internet show information only for one particular kind of transport mode, which might be inconvenient to passengers," he said.

(HK Edition 04/29/2009 page1)