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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Hok-ming and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (April 25) :
Question:
The bus fare adjustment mechanism, which allows fares to go upward and downward, has been implemented for more than a year. The fare concession initiatives of the franchised bus companies, however, impose a restriction which requires a passenger to make a return trip on the same bus route or route of the same group on the same day in order to be entitled to a fare discount on the return trip. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the total number of passengers benefited from the above restrictive fare concession initiatives since their implementation, and the top and bottom 10 bus routes ranked according to the number of passengers benefited from the initiatives; the aggregate amount of fare discounts offered to passengers and the average amount of fare discount enjoyed by each passenger, broken down by long, medium and short distance bus routes; and
(b) if the actual number of passengers benefited from the bus fare concession initiatives is substantively smaller than that originally estimated; if so, whether the Government will consider asking the franchised bus companies to withdraw the above restrictive fare concession initiatives and replacing them with single-trip fare concession initiatives which offer a fare discount for each trip?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Four franchised bus companies, viz. the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB), Citybus Limited (CTB), New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) and Long Win Bus Company Limited (LWB) have implemented a series of fare reduction initiatives since February 2006. These include the following same day return fare reductions on 100 routes with single fares of $10 or above:
(i) 20% fare reduction for a same day return trip to Octopus users on routes with single fares of $15 or above; and
(ii) 10% fare reduction for a same day return trip to Octopus users on routes with single fares between $10 and $14.9.
The two initiatives above do not cover Airport "A" routes, recreation routes and racecourse routes.
For routes with single fares of $15 or above, the Transport Department's latest figures showed that the average daily patronage of this fare reduction initiative was about 80,000 in December 2006. On average, passengers using the initiative enjoyed a total reduction of $3.6, or around $1.8 per trip. The aggregate amount of discounts enjoyed by passengers in that month was about $4.5 million. Since the introduction of this fare reduction initiative up until December 2006, the aggregate patronage stood at 23 million and the fare discounted amounted to about $41 million.
For routes with single fares between $10 and $14.9, the average patronage of the fare reduction initiative was about 135,000 in December 2006. On average, passengers using the initiative enjoyed a total reduction of $1.2, or around $0.6 per trip. The aggregate amount of discounts enjoyed by passengers in that month was about $2.5 million. Since the introduction of this fare reduction initiative up until December 2006, the aggregate patronage stood at 40 million and the fare discounted amounted to about $23 million.
Of the routes providing same day return fare reduction, the 10 routes with the highest and lowest patronage of the fare reduction initiatives concerned are presented in fare groups at Annex.
(b) In addition to the same day return fare reduction, the bus companies have also introduced other fare reduction initiatives by phases since early 2006, including a $2 flat fare or half fare for elderly passengers on Sundays and public holidays on routes excluding Airport "A" and racecourse routes, as well as additional Bus-bus Interchange (BBI) concessions. In December 2006, there was a daily average patronage of 295,000 using the concession offered on Sundays and public holidays for elderly passengers, and a daily average patronage of about 120,000 using over 200 BBI concessions.
In general, there has been a steady growth in the number of passengers using the fare reduction initiatives since the latter's implementation by phases. In December 2006 alone, the average daily patronage using the same day return fare reduction, concessions offered to elderly passengers on Sundays and public holidays, as well as the BBI concessions ranged from 335,000 to 630,000 in total, the maximum of which represents 70% of the total 900,000 patronage which could have been benefitted from the initiatives. The bus companies have committed to continuing the provision of the same day return fare reductions and the elderly fare discounts on Sundays and public holidays for three years starting from the date of implementation until a review in 2009.
The bus companies will continue publicising their fare reduction initiatives so that passengers will be informed of the concessions and make use of them. The operating environment of the bus trade has become increasingly difficult due to oil price hikes and keener competition in the public transport market. The bus companies therefore express that they have already provided the existing fare reduction initiatives as far as they could afford. In this connection, the Government has no intention to require the bus companies to alter the mode of fare reduction currently on offer.
Ends/Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:48
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