idiot, we live here because its the opposite,

Fine, if you want to Lamma to end up like Po Toi why don't you lobby for one ferry a week. Do you really think you'd have a choice of Turkish/Indian/Japanese/Chinese restaurants and several bars, plus a couple of grocery/hardware stores without an adequate ferry service? These places only survive because of visitor traffic. A few more ferries would mean a few more visitors/residents which can only be good for existing business and who knows, perhaps generate a couple more. I'm not calling for Starbucks or Wellcome, just common sense.

Yes, but visitors mostly come on Sundays and holidays, when the fares are higher - it's not that service that's losing money, it's the weekday one, which has minimal relevance to visitors.

Visitors don't buy hardware, or groceries much. Few frequent the non-Chinese restaurants and bars.
Sok Kwu Wan has a tourism-centric economy. It has a row of expensive Chinese seafood banquet restaurants and not much else.

More tourists would probably lead to less variety, not more.

On Friday and Saturday nights the late-night boats were PACKED.

The ferry company misleadingly averaged out the usage over seven nights. On that basis, the ridership was unremarkable.

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Could anybody can tell what is the outcome of the meeting held on 1/3/2008 at 9:30 a.m?

Could anybody can tell what did our Respected District Councilor do in relation to this ferry retendered matter??

I really want to know!! URGENT

these ferries are fuel inefficient, polluting and slow. The ferry operators are losing money because they aren't investing in better vessels. A new tender every three years obviously doesn't help. Bus companies get a much better deal.
I also wonder why they are not running fast ferries at night, let's say after 20:00, the higher fare would mean more money for the operators. I agree that we need more fast ferries, not less, and i know that most people wouldn't mind paying a bit more to shorten their return trip.

Other measures that could make the service more profitable for the ferry company are a fare increase on Sat and Sun, daytrippers from HK wouldn't mind paying more, and Lammaites who work weekends probably have a monthly pass anyway.
Other measures could include a government subsidy so that Lamma residents can buy an affordable monthly pass, while occasional users pay unsubsidized, higher fares.

Renting out the piers to bars and restaurants is obviously a very good solution, the problem is that right now they don't look very appealing, the DB pier was designed with a rooftop bar in mind, why not the other piers?
And there is room for more shops, if they moved the turnstiles.

The irony is that government money is spent on something like the helicopter pad, concreting paths, or the new Yung Shue Long anti-flooding concrete monster ( a complete waste of money) instead of subsidizing the ferry service.

Press release issued today:

“PIER PRESSURE”:
CALL TO PROTEST RE-TENDERING OF
OUTLYING ISLANDS’ FERRY SERVICE

7 PM, TUESDAY 4TH MARCH 2008

CENTRAL FERRY PIER #4
(LAMMA FERRY PIER)

In protest of the recent news of plans to re-tender the outlying islands’ ferry services, concerned island residents have called a demonstration at Pier 4, the Lamma Island Ferry Pier, at 7pm, Tuesday 4th March.

Anger amongst residents has erupted over plans to reduce service and increase prices. Locals are also frustrated with what they see as a lack of transparency in the government’s decision-making process, and a lack of publicity over the transportation department’s recent visit to an outlying island to canvass public opinion. Turn-out at the only official meeting was low due to lack of advance publicity.

Now, on the eve of the deadline, residents fear losing access to the essential transportation services upon which their livelihoods depend. Residents argue that there are various revenue-generating activities that could be profitable for ferry operators but which have not been seriously considered in the decision-making process.

All members of the press are invited to attend and cover the protest, and to discuss the issues with local residents.

TONIGHT, 7 PM!!!

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Backchat on Radio 3 : 567 kHz AM, or online (Real audio stream) will feature the ferry issue tomorrow, Wednesday 8:30-9:30 AM.

Call 2338-8266 or email backchat@rthk.org.hk to unload.

Yu Lai Fan

who is our elected Full Time District Council member http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/yu_laifan (chinese website)
email address yulaifan@netvigator.com
phone 2982 0976

is holding a meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 8pm at the Rural Committee Hall opposite HSBC.
The meeting will be in English and Cantonese

Steve Perras says he will attend and will report back via lammaferry@gmail.com

Manly to Circular Quay in Sydney $6.40 (around 45HKD) for a half hour ride on admitedly better quality slow ferries. I agree by any stretch the Lamma Ferry is great value for money.

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Same comments from a Lammaite taking notes at the Transport Dept.'s (TD) meeting last Sat.:

Observation / analysis:<OL><LI>We are in very serious straits here. The TD is embarrassed by their own ineptitude which left us in an appalling/ serious/ emergency(?) situation, with ferry operators unwilling to tender and customers a month away from having no ferry service on Tuesday morning, April 1st. TD has addressed/ rectified (?) this by asking/ pleading/ cajoling/ forcing(?) the various ferry companies to extend for an additional three month beyond their contracts, to end June.

<LI>They will NOT submit another tender request which could cause them to lose face again. TD's internal working committee will file their recommendations for the tender in a week's time. [Now reasonably confirmed to be next Friday, March 7th. The likelihood of any lateral or creative thinking from them over these next few critical days is Nil (or more optimistically, say 0.001%).

<LI>TD's model starts from the wrong premise, i.e. no or minimal increase in fares and reducing the service to achieve this. (some additional concessions such as reduced vessel and pier fees will be incorporated plus the opportunity to utilize retail space at the piers, which will not happen in all likelihood for the 3 year interim period).

<LI>There was no real indication and absolutely no promise from TD of any cooperation in any areas or any change in their thinking.

<LI>We will almost certainly be faced for the next three years with a situation of a) fewer sailings, b) less overnight/late night service, c) more slower ferries and possibly no fast ferries d) possibly a new operator (the devil we don't know), e) increased fares.

<LI>We need to take action, preferably with a single voice or at least as a choir singing from the same song sheet from all islands, NOW.
At the least this means getting statements/ recommendations/ demands/ pleas on our knees/ etc direct to TD (Carolina) and Selina Chow plus other government officials/ legislators/ friends of the ferry people and the media, with cc's to DC/RC and anyone and everyone else who needs to know.

<LI>If we mobilize ourselves and motivate others we may be able to turn the tide in these coming few critical days. Otherwise, we are SUNK and can expect little more than hearing our own grumblings echoing through the next three years.

<LI>Spartans, tomorrow we die!</OL>

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Foreign Body wrote: We need more fast ferries, not less, and i know that most people wouldn't mind paying a bit more to shorten their return trip.

Discovery Bay's very nice with an excellent all night fast ferry service, for which I know 'most people' wouldn't mind paying a bit more.

QMH that good eh?

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I wonder if a depleted ferry service might have a negative impact on Lamma property prices? That might change the attitude of some people in favour of a better - and more expensive - service. On the other hand, people who haven't bought yet...

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Indeed- I was wondering when someone would bring this up- didn't feel like it was my place to do so.
It could have an adverse effect in that people will look to Lamma more for cheaper propertry before the ferry service has ironed itself out and trust has been established again. The continued effect may be that prices for property go up again bringing more pressure for a decent ferry service.
Comparing the cost of ferry services in other countries is a totally redundant exercise and, to be fair, the ferry service is very cheap. The only other services in HK which are cheap are the Star Ferry and the tram- both of which have been running for many, many decades, that must show something for long term tenders.
Many of us work for companies where source costs have risen and, as a result, the cost to purchaser has gone up. The same thing applies here in that the ferry company has to cover the costs of increasing fuel costs, increasing labour costs etc. They haven't done themselves any favours of course and there are many ways in which they could have increased their revenue. I wonder how well their mainland tourism side of the business si doing and how much of the commuter ferry money goes into the upkeep of those ferries and the staff salaries.
Anyhoo- it's lovely here up at Marina Cove and the MTR is very cheap thanks! (Though I do miss a cup of coffee and a seat every morning on the fast ferry!)

I just came back from this.
A complete shambles.
For some reason YLF moved the meeting to her office, which can comfortably accommodate six people. At least 30 turned up,. not counting those who gave up when they couldn't even get near the door.

Apparently (via various Chinese speakers) YLF spent most of the meeting trying to avoid responsibility. Some stated she had not spoken up at any Transport Department meetings.

Anyway, she must now be acutely aware of how unhappy the community is about this and may start to take her job, representing us, seriously.

the only place I see this YLF meeting announcement is only here, not even mentioned in the chinese forum

Would anyone else, present at the meeting, care to corroborate YLF's statement that she became aware of 'the situation' only 3 days ago?

[quote="dragon"]Yu Lai Fan

who is our elected Full Time District Council member is holding a meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 8pm at the Rural Committee Hall opposite HSBC.

I repeatedly read that message so many times, but I found that only the name YLF is correctly stated!!!!

Plus the home page of this site, of course! I put it up as soon as I heard about it, yesterday morning. This meeting was only announced short notice, not on the walls or anywhere else, not informing anybody outside her circle of friends, it seems. No Chinese text for the Chin. forum ever became available.

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