Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation fines 4,260 passengers for misuse of HK$2 fare scheme in past 8 months
- Authorities also lower estimated reimbursement to transport operators in scheme to HK$4 billion for 2023-24 from HK$6.7 billion
- Government also inspected 2,360 passengers using public transport such as franchised buses and ferries
More than 4,200 rail passengers have been fined for misusing the Hong Kong government’s HK$2 (US$0.26) fare concession scheme over the past eight months.
Authorities also revised lower the estimated reimbursement to transport operators in the scheme to about HK$4 billion for 2023-24 from HK$6.7 billion, although the amount is expected to rise to HK$6 billion in 2024-25.
The government said on Wednesday that over the last five years, 1,419 suspected cases of abuse of the scheme were uncovered during joint site monitoring surveys carried out with operators on rail, franchised bus services, ferries, minibuses, trams and residents’ buses.
The fare concession scheme allows people aged 60 or above and eligible disabled residents to pay HK$2 per trip on designated public transport.
Hong Kong’s MTR to raise fines for HK$2 fare scheme abuse with crackdown on way
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han revealed that rail operator the MTR Corporation had fined about 4,260 train passengers between June last year and February 29 for misusing the scheme.
The Transport Department also conducted about 350 joint enforcement actions across 650 routes with transport operators including franchised buses and ferries, and inspected about 2,360 passengers for alleged abuse over the same period.
To step up action against abuse of the scheme, the department enhanced joint enforcement operations with operators from last June onwards.
Sun said that in one case a passenger was fined about HK$14,000 (US$1,800) and had to settle around HK$2,000 in unpaid fares. Another case was under police investigation for a suspected criminal offence.
Sun said the department had asked operators to strengthen ticket checks and passenger identity verification as well as strictly enforce penalties.
Sun said future expenditure on the scheme would depend on factors such as fare adjustments, changes in the eligible population and public transport operators as well as the effectiveness of anti-abuse measures.
“The government will closely monitor the operation of the HK$2 scheme, prepare for the estimates of expenditure and reflect in the estimates of the corresponding years,” he said in a written reply to a lawmaker’s questions in the Legislative Council.
For 2023-24, franchised bus operators in the scheme received HK$1.41 billion, while HK$1.4 billion went to the MTR Corp. Green minibus operators got HK$635.4 million, according to Sun.
The remaining amount was given to ferry, red minibus and kaito – a type of small ferry – operators as well as Hong Kong Tramways and residents’ service operators.
Sun also revealed that more than 2.3 million daily passenger trips on average were made under the scheme between March 2022 and last December, with over 90 per cent of them by elderly people aged 60 and above.
Lawmaker Chan Kin-por said the increase in expenditure on the HK$2 scheme was huge. He urged the government to come up with measures to curb abuse of the scheme and cut expenditure.
Hong Kong’s MTR Corp posts profits of HK$7.78 billion, down 20.8% from 2022
He noted one measure to curb abuse was requiring eligible residents to use personal JoyYou cards for rides from August 25.
Chan, who is also a member of the Executive Council, the city’s key decision-making body, suggested authorities gather more usage information of the scheme before considering measures such as capping the number of daily and monthly rides or the amount of subsidies under the scheme, or increasing the concessionary fare.
“The government should reduce the illegal use and wastage of the scheme and also make it simple,” Chan said.
With the city’s population ageing, the scheme has placed an additional strain on government coffers and Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po ordered a review into how to make it sustainable.
Chan said the government had no intention of cancelling the scheme, but hoped the review, to be completed within the year, would enable the scheme to operate in a “financially sustainable manner” after a significant increase in expenditure over the past few years.
