Mtr Fare System
MTR fare adjustment mechanism
After a thousand entreaties, the Hong Kong Government eventually completed its review on the MTR fare adjustment mechanism and decided that new factors be added to the fare computation. When the MTR raises its fare this June, the rate will be relatively lower and concessions will be introduced to reward passengers. The series of measures look grandiose; unfortunately their flashy packaging cannot hide the fact that they are merely a Government's empty show. MTR is reaping huge profits but keeps on increasing fares, and the Fare Stabilization Fund for which the public yearns is nowhere to be seen. The transport company just patches up here and there under all sorts of pretexts, trying to pacify people with small favours.
Complacently, government officials announced that the new mechanism would cut MTR's fare increase this year by 0.5%, from 3.2% to 2.7%. As a result, MTR will be making some $290 million less from fare income this year. The problem is, with the MTR's annual profit of tens of billions of dollars, this is just a drop in the ocean. On top of fare income, MTR also makes money from its property developments along MTR lines and overseas businesses. The company has always been criticized that it separates its accounts and refuses to subsidize railway operating expenditure with other proceeds. On the surface, the Government has responded to people's criticism by adding the Productivity Factor value to the new mechanism. But the proportion in the calculation is just symbolic, rendering the claimed profit-sharing a lip service.
MTR is a major public transport provider. The more money it makes each year, the heavier the burden on the passengers. The so-called review on the fare adjustment mechanism was not conducted for protecting the interest of the public, but that of the MTR. Where is the Chief Executive's pledge of “no livelihood issue is too
After a thousand entreaties, the Hong Kong Government eventually completed its review on the MTR fare adjustment mechanism and decided that new factors be added to the fare computation. When the MTR raises its fare this June, the rate will be relatively lower and concessions will be introduced to reward passengers. The series of measures look grandiose; unfortunately their flashy packaging cannot hide the fact that they are merely a Government's empty show. MTR is reaping huge profits but keeps on increasing fares, and the Fare Stabilization Fund for which the public yearns is nowhere to be seen. The transport company just patches up here and there under all sorts of pretexts, trying to pacify people with small favours.
Complacently, government officials announced that the new mechanism would cut MTR's fare increase this year by 0.5%, from 3.2% to 2.7%. As a result, MTR will be making some $290 million less from fare income this year. The problem is, with the MTR's annual profit of tens of billions of dollars, this is just a drop in the ocean. On top of fare income, MTR also makes money from its property developments along MTR lines and overseas businesses. The company has always been criticized that it separates its accounts and refuses to subsidize railway operating expenditure with other proceeds. On the surface, the Government has responded to people's criticism by adding the Productivity Factor value to the new mechanism. But the proportion in the calculation is just symbolic, rendering the claimed profit-sharing a lip service.
MTR is a major public transport provider. The more money it makes each year, the heavier the burden on the passengers. The so-called review on the fare adjustment mechanism was not conducted for protecting the interest of the public, but that of the MTR. Where is the Chief Executive's pledge of “no livelihood issue is too