一「撞」激起千層浪 車禍揭深層問題

<轉載自2017年9月27日 明報 社評>

一「撞」激起千層浪，一宗嚴重巴士車禍，折射不少深層次問題。巴士車長工時過長勞累不堪，成為道路安全隱患，單單降低工時上限，不正視人手不足，始終無法解決問題。車長不足與薪酬偏低有關，不過政府交通政策向鐵路傾斜，巴士公司嚴控成本，爭取加薪並不容易。就算資方妥協，高薪招聘車長，惟香港人口老化，總體勞動力下降，其他運輸行業司機荒可能變本加厲。連串問題緊扣相連，頭痛醫頭難解困局，需要通盤思考。

工時過長屬表徵 薪酬偏低成禍源

上周五深水埗城巴車禍造成3死30傷，事發前肇事車長連續數天工作逾13小時，各界關注車禍原因會否與車長疲勞過度有關。城巴一邊強調涉事車長工作時數符合運輸署指引，一邊表示車長加班工作13小時並非普遍現象，大部分車長平均每日工作10小時。然而即使只有少數車長會帶着勞累身軀勉強加班，已足以為道路安全埋下計時炸彈。

運輸署指引列明，巴士車長每日工時最長不應超過14小時，城巴和肇事車長的確沒有違反指引，可是車長身心精神狀况關乎人命，只有10小時的公餘和休息時間，是否足夠，實屬疑問。運輸署現行指引未免太過寬鬆，工時上限必須降低。

巴士車長工時過長，情况必須正視，不過這其實只是問題的表徵，若非薪酬微薄不足養家餬口，也不會有車長甘願透支精力勉強加班。現時陸路運輸業界的平均工資約為1.9萬元，相比之下，新入職巴士車長底薪加基本津貼，月入只有大約1.5萬元，必須靠加班工作超時補水，才能達到月入2萬元左右的水平。

香港生活成本之高，位居全球前列，有家室的車長要養妻活兒，不得不拚命加班；與此同時，薪酬偏低也成為巴士公司招聘司機和「留人」的絆腳石，加劇人手不足問題，巴士公司不想縮減班次影響服務，自然樂意接受車長加班。一方想多掙點錢養家，一方則要控制成本，導致車長嚴重加班現象，成為一個結構性的問題，運輸署所制定的工時上限，在部分司機眼中反而成為了拚命加班的極限，情况諷刺，令人感慨。

單是降低工時上限，解決不了車長收入不足問題。就算當局修訂指引，不准車長拚命加班，部分車長為了幫補生計，可能會另覓兼職，結果一樣精力透支，成為安全隱患。

改善車長薪酬待遇，關乎道路安全和公眾利益，「市場決定」不應成為政府撒手不理的藉口。然而車長薪酬偏低，也不能簡單歸咎巴士公司「刻薄」。政府交通政策偏重鐵路系統，雖然3間巴士公司都有上億元的盈利，可是也要面對相當大的競爭。由於加價必然會惹來市民反彈，也可能削弱市場競爭能力，巴士公司自然傾向先控制成本。政府應當積極關注車長薪酬待遇偏低的問題，更有需要檢討現時公共運輸政策是否過度向鐵路傾斜，衍生意料之外的道路安全後遺症。

不過即使巴士公司願意顯著改善車長薪酬，也不代表所有問題迎刃而解。香港人口老化，勞動力下降，困擾不少行業，運輸行業正是其中之一。由於薪酬水平和前景平平，近年愈來愈少年輕人願意投身職業司機行列，司機老年化趨勢嚴重，的士業和小巴業情况尤其明顯。假如巴士公司願意高薪挖人，結果可能是小巴和的士司機等買少見少，要靠年邁司機充數撐場。雖說不少長者仍然老當益壯，可是部分年長職業司機身體狀况其實未必適合長時間駕駛，有可能成為道路安全隱患。

人力不足成隱憂 解決難有萬靈丹

行政長官林鄭月娥回應城巴車禍，談到人力不足問題困擾香港，直接影響很多民生議題，當局會看看能否從創新科技入手，解決問題。對於職業司機人手不足，不少人都會即時聯想到自動化駕駛。誠然，近年無人車發展方興未艾，被視為未來發展新趨勢，可是香港科技發展緩慢，高樓林立環境擠迫，也可能不利引入自動化駕駛。

引入合資格外勞職業司機，理論上似乎值得考慮，然而職業司機的工作性質，與家庭傭工等有別，如何確保他們能夠短時間內適應本港複雜的交通環境，是一大難題。今次城巴車禍折射的深層問題相當複雜，難有一服立即見效的靈丹妙藥，政府需與商界和工會認真研究，同時多管齊下處理。

Deep-rooted problems revealed by crash

ONE "collision" has raised thousands of waves. A bus crash has exposed myriad deep-rooted problems. Bus captains who have worked long hours are unbearably tired. That potentially threatens road safety. This problem cannot possibly be solved simply by lowering the upper limit of their working hours. It is necessary to face squarely short-handedness. Those problems are interlinked. The difficulty can hardly be overcome just by taking stopgap measures. The situation must be looked at globally.

It is costlier to live in Hong Kong than in most other places in the world. To provide for his wife and children, a bus captain who has family cannot but work over-time (OT) for all he is worth. Bus captains' pay is on the low side. That makes it hard for bus operators to hire and keep drivers and aggravates short-handedness. Reluctant to cut their services, bus operators are naturally happy that bus captains want to work OT. Bus captains' wish to work OT and bus operators' need to keep their costs down have conspired to turn bus drivers' heavy OT work into a structural problem. The upper limit on working hours the Transport Department has set is in some bus captains' eyes a restriction on their desperate OT. The irony is lamentable.

It does not follow from bus operators' willingness to pay bus captains much more that all problems can readily be solved. As Hong Kong's population is ageing, its workforce is shrinking. Because professional drivers are poorly paid and have dim prospects, the number of young people willing to join the ranks of them has in recent years kept diminishing. There is a strong tendency towards drivers being aged, especially in the taxi and minibus industries. If bus operators lure drivers with high pay, there may be fewer and fewer taxi and minibus drivers, and drivers advanced in years may have to be employed. Though many old people are strong, some old drivers may not be so constituted as to be fit to drive long hours. Their presence may potentially threaten road safety.

In talking about the Citybus crash, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said manpower shortage troubled Hong Kong and directly affected many matters concerning people's lives, adding that the authorities would look at the possibility of solving the problem by means of innovative technology. Automated driving occurs to many as soon as it comes to the scarcity of professional drivers. Driverless cars have just come out. It is true that many consider them representative of a future tendency. However, in the SAR, the development of innovative technology is slow, high-rises stand in large numbers, and many places are terribly crowded. Such factors may not conduce to the introduction of automated driving.

It is theoretically worth considering to import qualified professional drivers. However, what professional drivers do is different in nature from what domestic helpers do. It is a grave difficulty to make sure that they can quickly adapt themselves to the complicated traffic situation in the SAR. The deep-rooted problems the Citybus crash has revealed are quite complicated. It is hard to find an instant cure for any of them. The government must seriously look at them together with bus operators and drivers' unions and at the same time find a multi-pronged approach to handling them.

一「撞」激起千層浪 車禍揭深層問題

一「撞」激起千層浪，一宗嚴重巴士車禍，折射不少深層次問題。巴士車長工時過長勞累不堪，成為道路安全隱患，單單降低工時上限，不正視人手不足，始終無法解決問題。連串問題緊扣相連，頭痛醫頭難解困局，需要通盤思考。

香港生活成本之高，位居全球前列，有家室的車長要養妻活兒，不得不拚命加班；與此同時，薪酬偏低也成為巴士公司招聘司機和「留人」的絆腳石，加劇人手不足問題，巴士公司不想縮減班次影響服務，自然樂意接受車長加班。一方想多掙點錢養家，一方則要控制成本，導致車長嚴重加班現象，成為一個結構性的問題，運輸署所制定的工時上限，在部分司機眼中反而成為了拚命加班的極限，情况諷刺，令人感慨。

即使巴士公司願意顯著改善車長薪酬，也不代表所有問題迎刃而解。香港人口老化，勞動力下降，困擾不少行業，運輸行業正是其中之一。由於薪酬水平和前景平平，近年愈來愈少年輕人願意投身職業司機行列，司機老年化趨勢嚴重，的士業和小巴業情况尤其明顯。假如巴士公司願意高薪挖人，結果可能是小巴和的士司機等買少見少，要靠年邁司機充數撐場。雖說不少長者仍然老當益壯，可是部分年長職業司機身體狀况其實未必適合長時間駕駛，有可能成為道路安全隱患。

行政長官林鄭月娥回應城巴車禍，談到人力不足問題困擾香港，直接影響很多民生議題，當局會看看能否從創新科技入手，解決問題。對於職業司機人手不足，不少人都會即時聯想到自動化駕駛。誠然，近年無人車發展方興未艾，被視為未來發展新趨勢，可是香港科技發展緩慢，高樓林立環境擠迫，也可能不利引入自動化駕駛。

引入合資格外勞職業司機，理論上似乎值得考慮，然而職業司機的工作性質，與家庭傭工等有別，如何確保他們能夠短時間內適應本港複雜的交通環境，是一大難題。今次城巴車禍折射的深層問題相當複雜，難有一服立即見效的靈丹妙藥，政府需與商界和工會認真研究，同時多管齊下處理。