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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-03-20 06:00
Last update date: 2021-03-20 06:00
Transport International, the parent company of KMB and Long Win, announced its 2020 results on Thursday (18th), exposing the government's exaggeration of the difficulties in the operation of KMB and Long Win.
It turned out that KMB was able to turn losses into profits with government subsidies such as the "Protecting Employment" program, and earned more than 200 million yuan in profit. Long Win can also maintain a balance of revenue and expenditure. It makes people question whether other bus companies are operating in the same way as the government and management. It's so bad.
This situation is also sufficient to remind the public that the government and bus companies should not lightly accept the rhetoric of the government and bus companies. If they want to prove that the fare increase is justified, the operators should disclose more accounting information as evidence.
Chen Fan pointed out that the franchised bus fare increase is a difficult decision.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Secretary of Transportation and Housing Bureau Chen Fan defended the government’s approval of the bus company’s fare increase on Tuesday (16th). The former said that the bus company was "lost" last year, and the latter said that the government’s decision was "very difficult." Persuade passengers to accept the fare increase.
The operating difficulties of bus companies under the epidemic can be imagined, but the main dissatisfaction of the society is that the government is lazy to put more burdens on the lives of the people and allows bus companies to increase their fares in this difficult environment.
The so-called "loss to meat" does not include government subsidies
What is particularly shocking is that the government has only told part of the facts, because the government's subsidy programs such as "employment protection" have allowed some bus companies to "recover lost ground" and record profits last year.
Transport International announced its results. As far as KMB, which it calls the "flagship company," it did record a loss of 692 million yuan after tax last year, it will turn into a profit of 203 million yuan after taking into account government subsidies, which is equivalent to 2019. 65% of profit.
In addition, KMB’s sister company, Long Win, received a subsidy of 74.7 million yuan from the government, and its revenues and expenditures were at least "struck up" and recorded a profit of 600,000 yuan after tax.
KMB was approved to increase the overall fare by 8.5%, the actual fare increase for the sole operation line is about 5.8%, and the joint-operated cross-sea line will follow the increase of NWFB and Citybus, which will increase a total of 12% in two stages (photo by Zhang Haowei)
Although the KMB and Longgang routes directly compete with railways, they are still protected by the government's franchise, which can eliminate potential competition in the same industry. In addition, there is public subsidy to recover losses. There is really no reason for the authorities to approve the fare increase of the two buses and should even use it. Political skills require the two bus companies to introduce more preferential passenger and employee income measures.
KMB’s profit should have been enough to cover the 150 million reduction in staff costs last year, and the remaining 50 million can also provide a rebate of 23 yuan to 2.12 million passengers per day, thereby reflecting the tide of the times with the people.
What's more, if KMB really implements relevant measures, its corporate image will definitely become more positive, which will be more conducive to attracting more passengers to promote business recovery.
Of course, under the circumstances that the epidemic has not yet retreated, the economy has recovered extremely slowly, and the government has declared that it will no longer promote the "Protecting Employment" program. It is believed that KMB and Long Win will still be unable to recover the past passenger volume in the short term, and the risk of future losses remains low. low.
Perhaps based on the above considerations, the government has allowed the bus companies to increase their fares to reduce future losses, and at the same time reduce the chance that the government will need to subsidize substantially in the future, but the problem is that these are only assumptions, and the bus companies have made good profits in the past few years. With considerable strength, the government does not need to worry about its prospects too soon.
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Open and honest and judged by the public
More importantly, we can learn that the government has exaggerated the operating difficulties of KMB only because Carrier is a listed company and announced its results shortly after the company’s approval for fare increases. The relevant documents list the financial affairs of KMB and Longwin Bus. data.
In contrast, the information disclosure of NWFB, Citybus and New Lantao Bus Company appears to be relatively inadequate.
The existing financial data on these three companies only lasted from June to September last year, and they were not as detailed as the two buses. Even if the outside world estimates that they are not as strong as the KMB and Long Win, they will somewhat question whether their operating conditions are as bad as the government describes.
The current bus fare increase incident shows that the government is once again escorting large companies, lazy to care about the lives and lives of the people, thinking that increasing transportation subsidies can quell public grievances. No wonder it can’t win the people’s trust.
Hong Kong certainly needs stable public utilities to maintain the operation of the society, but they cannot be allowed to sit on the limitlessly and overwhelm the welfare of the people because of this.
Regardless of the economic success or failure, the government should strictly control public utilities, and it should be open and honest.
If the bus company insists that the fare increase is justified, the government should instruct the bus company to open accounts for its franchise business, explain the specific impact of government subsidies on its accounts, and explain how to distribute the additional revenue after the fare increase, so that the public can decide whether to increase the rate. It is reasonable, and must not be fooled by the enterprise.
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