PUBLIC TRANSPORT Hong Kong has a diverse multi-modal public transport system, comprising a Kowloon-Canton Railway, a Mass Transit Railway, an Airport Railway, a Light Rail Transit, a tramway, franchised buses, public light buses, taxis, residents' services, a funicular cable tramway and ferry services, extending to almost every part of the territory. Rehabus services are also available for persons with mobility difficulties. Public transport patronage decreased in 2003 by about 3.8% over 2002 to 10.78 million passengers per day due to the impact of SARS. The largest passenger carrying mode was franchised buses, which carried 4.05 million passengers per day. Franchised bus patronage decreased by about 6.5% in 2003. Coming next were the railways, which carried 3.41 million passengers per day. Railway patronage decreased by 3.0% compared with last year. Railways, being the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport, will continue to expand in network and will form the backbone of Hong Kong's transport system, with other modes playing a supplementary although still important role to ensure that commuters will continue to have choice of services. For franchised buses, there were continuing improvements in the quality of franchised buses. By end 2003, about 87.5% of the franchised buses were air-conditioned buses and about 57% were Euro II or above buses with less emission. To ensure more efficient use of bus resources and to provide passengers with more choice of routes, bus-bus interchange schemes were promoted. In 2003, a total of 24 bus-bus interchange schemes were introduced. The market share of ferry remained at about 1.4% in 2003 with 146 000 daily passenger trips. As at end 2003, there were altogether 12 franchised and licensed ferry operators providing 29 regular ferry services to the outlying islands and across the harbour.