Tram fare hike approved

The tram fare hike takes effect on July 2

The government has approved Hong Kong Tramways’ application for fare increases that will take effect on July 2.

The adult fare will rise by 30 cents to $2.60, while that for children and the elderly will rise by 10 cents to $1.30 and $1.20.

The monthly ticket will rise from $200 to $220, while the tourist ticket will remain at $34.

The Transport & Housing Bureau said the application was assessed in accordance with the established policy and mechanism, taking into account service quality and improvement plans, changes in operating costs and revenue, its forecasts of future costs, revenue, profit and return, and public acceptability.

The bureau said Hong Kong Tramways has been providing satisfactory services for many years and noted it will implement new projects in the coming years to maintain the service’s competitiveness and sustainability.

The 12.6 percent weighted average fare increase proposed by the company was lower than the increases in inflation (21.5 percent) and in Median Monthly Household Income (39.3 percent ) since its last fare increase seven years ago.

As tram fares only have a 0.01 percent weighting in the Consumer Price Index, the inflationary impact of the fare increase will be insignificant, the bureau added.

The MTR Corporation earlier announced that it would also increase its train fares by 3.14 percent starting this month.

However, it added that Octopus card users would not be affected this year since the three percent rebate for all Octopus users will continue.