Hong Kong authorities can only apply a new pricing model for the HK$2 (25 US cent) transport fare scheme by September of next year because they need time to organise updates, checks and tests covering 17,000 Octopus card readers on vehicles and ferries, the welfare chief has said.
Advertisement
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han also revealed on Thursday that only 360 elderly or people with disabilities took more than 240 trips a month using the concessionary fare, based on data from last year.
In Wednesday’s budget, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the government would cap the number of trips at 240 a month and proposed charging 20 per cent of the full fare for a trip if it cost more than HK$10. But the changes were criticised for failing to save much money while disproportionately impacting a large segment of the population.
The Post earlier reported it would take 18 months before the new pricing scheme could be implemented, with a government source suggesting that stored-value card company Octopus lacked the technical capabilities.
Sun provided further details at a press briefing on Thursday, saying: “It takes time for us to ensure all 17,000 Octopus card readers work perfectly and error-free as we update them. Most of them are offline. We also have to wait after the operation hours to update and test the card readers one by one, which is also time-consuming.”
Advertisement
Sun added that it took the government 26 months to update all card readers a few years ago when the age threshold for the concessionary fare was lowered from 65 to 60 years, but he hoped the process could take 18 months at most this time.