*******************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (December 19):
Question:
The first and second phases of the Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities (the Concession Scheme) commenced on June 28 and August 5, 2012 respectively. Under the Concession Scheme, the elderly and eligible persons with disabilities may travel on the general Mass Transit Railway (MTR) lines, franchised buses and ferries anytime at a concessionary fare of $2 a trip. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the monthly patronage of MTR's domestic services and various franchised bus services in the past three years by persons who were eligible to benefit from the Concession Scheme;
(b) given that the authorities have indicated that the third phase of the Concession Scheme will commence in the first quarter of 2013 to include services of buses of the New Lantao Bus and designated ferries, of the exact implementation date of the third phase by the authorities; whether that phase can commence earlier within this year; if not, of the reasons for that;
(c) of the number of person-trips benefitting from the fare concessions under the first and second phases of the Concession Scheme so far, as well as the total amount involved in the concessions offered; together with a breakdown by month and public transport operator; and
(d) given that at present, the elderly are offered free rides on ferries of the Star Ferry and the Government reimburses part of the fare revenue forgone to the operator concerned, whether it has plans to extend such an arrangement to trams; if it has, when the relevant arrangement can be implemented; if not, of the reasons for that, and the difficulties faced by the authorities?
Reply:
President,
The Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities (the Scheme), as announced in the 2011-12 Policy Address, is to enable elderly people aged 65 or above and eligible persons with disabilities (Note 1) to travel on the general Mass Transit Railway (MTR) lines, franchised buses and ferries any time at a concessionary fare of $2 per trip. The Scheme aims to help build a caring and inclusive society by encouraging the elderly and eligible persons with disabilities to participate more in community activities. On the premises that public transport operators concerned will continue to absorb the cost of existing concessions that they are voluntarily offering to the elderly and persons with disabilities, the Government will provide additional resources on an accountable and reimbursement basis, to cover the fare differential between the nominal fare and $2.
My reply to the Hon Sin Chung-kai's question is as follows:
(a) In the past three years, the average daily passenger trips (Note 2) of elderly and eligible persons with disabilities, who used the MTR domestic services and the franchised bus services, are set out in the table below –
MTR Franchised Buses
(Note 3)
Elderly Eligible Elderly (Note 4)
Persons with
Disabilities
2009 182 600 17 800 337 000
2010 199 000 29 000 346 000
2011 222 000 35 500 361 000
(b) and (c) Under the Scheme, the Government will use a Centralised Settlement Platform tailor-made for the Scheme to obtain accurate daily patronage records for calculating, on an accountable basis, the fare revenue forgone that needs to be reimbursed to the public transport operators concerned. To benefit the elderly and eligible persons with disabilities soonest possible, while it takes time to develop the Centralised Settlement Platform, the Government has already implemented the Scheme on the MTR on June 28 this year, and extended the Scheme to four franchised bus companies (namely the Kowloon Motor Bus, Citybus, New World First Bus and Long Win Bus) on August 5. Since staff of the Transport Department have to directly examine the applications submitted by public transport operators for reimbursement of their revenue forgone on an accountable basis, the process takes time. Initial data show that by the end of October this year, the average daily passenger trips of beneficiaries enjoying the Scheme was about 627 000. For details, please refer to the table below –
Elderly Eligible Total
Persons with
Disabilities
MTR 204 000 33 000 237 000
(Note 5)
Franchised 351 000 39 000 390 000
Buses
Total 555 000 72 000 627 000
As of end-October this year, MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL)'s revenue forgone as a result of implementing the Scheme was around $49 million; and that for the four franchised bus companies was around $65 million.
Phase 3 of the Scheme, covering the New Lantao Bus and ferry services, involves a total of 13 public transport operators. Given the many operators involved as well as their diversities and differences in fare collection system, mode of operation, accounting and auditing arrangements, the preparatory work of Phase 3 necessarily takes time. Moreover, unlike MTRCL and the four franchised bus companies, the operators concerned are generally of small scale. Some of them do not have computerised fare collection support system, and some are even not using Octopus readers to collect fares. They need to rely on the Centralised Settlement Platform being ready in order to record the daily patronage related to the Scheme and the route information. This will facilitate them in calculating the revenue forgone as a result of implementing the Scheme, and to apply for reimbursement from the Government.
To prepare for the launching of the Scheme, all operators concerned are now proceeding with the relevant system enhancement and testing to ensure that the enhanced system would support the operation of the Scheme in a reliable, stable and accurate manner. The Government is closely liaising with the operators concerned with a view to launching Phase 3 of the Scheme around March 2013.
(d) The Government has all along been encouraging public transport operators to reduce fare and offer fare concessions as far as possible to help passengers lower their transport expenses. In doing so the operators take into account their respective operating and financial conditions, overall economic environment and passenger needs. It is the commercial decision of individual operators as to whether to provide fare concessions and what the details of the concessions are.
The Star Ferry (SF) has since October 1992 been voluntarily offering free rides for elderly aged 65 or above and this measure is not related to the Scheme. With regard to the arrangement for the Government to reimburse SF with the revenue forgone arising from offering free rides to the elderly, it was approved as an exceptional assistance measure when SF's 2011 fare increase application was examined, having regard to its financial situation and business prospects.
As for tram service, the Hong Kong Tramways Limited (HKT) has since 1994 been offering concessionary fares for the elderly. Currently, the tram fare for elderly aged 65 or above is $1.1. In view of the current operating as well as financial situation of HKT, and considering that public money should be appropriately used, the Government has no plan to subsidise HKT to offer free rides for the elderly at this juncture.
Note 1: This refers to recipients under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme aged between 12 and 64 with 100% disabilities and recipients of Disability Allowance in the same group.
Note 2: Counting only those passengers who used Octopus to pay their fares.
Note 3: Before the Scheme was implemented, persons with disabilities and other passengers alike paid the same bus fare according to their age when riding on franchised buses. Hence, prior to the launch of the Scheme, the franchised bus companies have not kept the passenger figures of persons with disabilities.
Note 4: Including Citybus (Franchise 1 - Hong Kong Island and cross harbour routes)'s fare concessions applicable to persons aged 60 or above.
Note 5: Excluding MTR Corporation Limited's own $2 concessionary fare offered on Wednesday, Saturday and non-Sunday public holidays.
Ends/Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Issued at HKT 13:03
NNNN
