Social News
Written by: Huang Weilun
2020-12-31 19:18
Last update date: 2020-12-31 22:00
This year, Hong Kong’s economy has been devastated by the new crown pneumonia. The government has announced that it will suspend the handling of franchised bus and taxi fare increases. On the last day of 2020, the government reminded the public that the current relaxation of the public transport subsidy scheme, that is, the threshold of 200 yuan for the subsidy It will be maintained until June next year; the MTR’s 20% discount per trip will also be extended to March next year.
However, individual public transport services have been approved to increase fares in the epidemic. The Transport Department said in response to "Hong Kong 01" inquiries that 55 green green minibus routes will be approved this year to increase fares up to a maximum of 1 yuan; the Star Ferry has also been approved to increase fares, which will take effect in February next year .
Regarding electricity tariffs, although CLP and Hongkong Electric announced earlier that they would freeze their electricity tariffs in 2021, Hongkong Electric will maintain at 1.264 yuan per kilowatt-hour of electricity and CLP at 1.218 yuan.
However, due to the end of part of the government's electricity tariff subsidies, users have to pay electricity tariffs in disguised form to increase.
MTR
As the median monthly household income of domestic households in the fourth quarter of 2019 has fallen year-on-year, triggering the "Affordability Cap" ceiling mechanism in the MTR's add-and-subtract mechanism, MTR will not increase fares in the new year.
In addition, in response to the epidemic, the government previously provided 800 million yuan in subsidies to the MTR, providing a 20% discount per trip. The original plan was to end on January 1, 2021. However, the November Policy Address mentioned that the discount will be extended to At the end of March next year.
That is, there will be no changes to the MTR fees until April next year, and it will depend on whether the concession will be extended afterwards.
Franchised bus
In August 2019, NWFB and Citybus had proposed a 12% fare increase to the Transport Department; KMB Long Win also proposed an 8.5% fare increase in 2018.
Under the epidemic, buses have not received direct government subsidy to reduce their fares like the MTR. The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Chen Fan, has said that approval of bus fares has been suspended, describing it as "a certain degree of fare reduction."
The Transport Department replied that it will process the fare increase applications of franchised bus companies according to the existing mechanism in a timely manner and submit the fare increase proposals to the relevant agencies for review.
Public transportation subsidy
The government will continue to relax the threshold of the public transportation subsidy program, and the requirement for receiving subsidies will be reduced from 400 yuan to 200 yuan per month for public transportation expenses. The government will continue to continue from January 1 to June 30, 2021. A one-third subsidy is provided for citizens' monthly transportation expenses exceeding the threshold of 200 yuan. The maximum subsidy amount for each Octopus is maintained at 400 yuan per month.
Taxi
Urban, New Territories and Lantau taxis also applied to the Transport Department for fare increases in 2018. Among them, the flag price of urban taxis is expected to increase from 24 to 30 yuan, but the government has also not approved the relevant applications.
The taxi industry wrote many times this year asking the government to approve the fare increase, and then applied for an additional 6 yuan "insurance surcharge" per trip, but it was also not approved.
In other words, in the new year, the taxi fare will remain at the original price.
Regarding the taxi industry's fare increase application, the Transport Department also stated that it will handle it in due course according to the existing mechanism.
Green minibus
Minibuses are one of the few public transport services approved for fare increases this year.
According to the Transport Department, there are 20 combinations of green minibus routes approved for fare increase this year, involving 55 routes. The fare increase amounts range from 1 cent to $1, ranging from 2.4% to 13.3%.
According to the Transport Department, all fare increase applications are submitted by operators in 2019 or before. It is emphasized that when approving fare increases, various factors will be taken into consideration on a case-by-case basis, including the financial situation of the minibus operators, service quality and service improvement plans; Consider the relevant subsidy measures under the Epidemic Prevention and Anti-epidemic Fund and the acceptance level of passengers under the current economic situation.
In addition, the Transport Department pointed out that a total of 5 green minibus routes (main and auxiliary routes) have been cancelled this year, including the 28A auxiliary route on Hong Kong Island (Ice House Street-Causeway Bay (Sin Hui Road)) and Kowloon No. 6 (Hung Hom (Whampoa Garden) )) – Tsim Sha Tsui (Hankow Road)) and Route 6X (Hung Hom (Whampoa Garden)) – Tsim Sha Tsui (Hankow Road)); and New Territories Route 801 (Yiu On – Fo Tan (Cheung Lek Mei Street)) and Route 808A (Yiu On-Fo Tan (Cheung Lek Mei Street)).
Shipping
The Star Ferry applied for a fare increase in April 2019. The government announced in December this year that it would approve the two franchised ferry routes "Central-Tsim Sha Tsui" and "Wan Chai-Tsim Sha Tsui" to increase the fares of the two franchised ferry routes. The two routes will increase the fare by 0.3 to 0.5 yuan respectively , And the monthly ticket will be increased by 25 yuan, and the average increase of all types of fares is 16.5%. The new fare will take effect on February 9, 2021.
Regarding why the Star Ferry was allowed to increase its fares, the Transport Department stated that the Star Ferry has been recording losses since 2018. Under the influence of social events and the epidemic, the number of passengers and ticket revenues in 2019 and 2020 will both drop significantly, and it is expected to be short. In the medium term, it is difficult to return to the previous level; coupled with the continuous increase in operating costs of the Star Ferry, the economic outlook is uncertain. Therefore, it is believed that the Star Ferry needs to adjust its charges and maintain services.
Electricity bill
In terms of electricity tariffs, CLP and Hongkong Electric will freeze electricity tariffs in 2021. The former will maintain a charge of 1.218 yuan per kilowatt-hour; the latter will be 1.264 yuan.
However, since the government provided an annual electricity fee subsidy of 2,000 yuan in January this year, it ended in December, leaving only a monthly electricity fee relief allowance of 50 yuan.
After the partial electricity subsidy ends, the households who consume 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month will not be required to pay after the subsidy is deducted. However, by 2021, as part of the subsidy will not be received, the electricity fee will be at least 10 yuan.
parking lot
The Commercial Building Subcommittee of the Housing Authority approved in November to freeze the parking fees of the Housing Authority's car parks.
The charges in 2021 will remain at the level of 2019. The monthly and hourly charges for various parking spaces, including daily parking charges for private cars, will remain unchanged.
In addition, when electric vehicles are charged in hourly parking spaces, they can continue to enjoy parking discounts.
However, the number of parking spaces in the public car park will also be reduced first in 2021. The Yau Ma Tei car park with 770 public parking spaces will officially cease operation on January 1, 2021.
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