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The overall policy is more beneficial to the grassroots than the transportation allowance

2021-12-22T22:43:03.902Z


The Transport Department reminded the public on Tuesday (21st) that the temporary special measures of the Public Transport Expenses Subsidy Scheme will expire on December 31. The old system will be restored from New Year's Day, and the minimum public transportation fee required by the subsidy will be changed to 400 yuan


The Transport Department reminded the public on Tuesday (21st) that the temporary special measures of the Public Transport Expenses Subsidy Scheme will expire on December 31.

The old system will be restored from New Year's Day, the minimum public transportation fee required for the subsidy has been changed to 400 yuan, and the upper limit of the subsidy has also been reduced to 400 yuan.


The public transport subsidy plan was implemented in 2019, and the first optimization in 2020 will be to increase the subsidy rate of public transport expenses exceeding 400 yuan from one-quarter to one-third; and the subsidy ceiling for each Octopus will be increased from 300 yuan per month To 400 yuan.

In response to the epidemic, the government announced the introduction and extension of a temporary special measure on July 2020, January 1, 2021, and April 1, respectively. The current monthly public transport expenditure level is RMB 200, with a monthly subsidy. The upper limit is 500 yuan.

The old system of public transportation costs are not low

According to the conditions of the current subsidy scheme, if citizens purchase both the MTR Tuen Mun-Hung Hom Monthly Pass and the KMB monthly pass, this transportation plan already covers most commuter routes, and the monthly transportation cost is $1,280. A subsidy of 360 yuan. If citizens need to take another city bus route, they will have a chance to get a subsidy of more than 400 yuan, but it is difficult to exceed the current limit of 500 yuan. Therefore, the return of the subsidy ceiling to the old system should not affect the vast majority of Hong Kong citizens. Will have an impact.

However, assuming that a grassroots citizen needs to work six days a week, that is, 27 days in a month, he needs to use public transportation. To meet the minimum public transportation cost of 400 yuan, at least 14.8 yuan per day is required. The transportation allowance is often not Can benefit them.

When the old subsidy model cannot cater for some needy grassroots, the government needs to reflect on whether the subsidy model is perfect.

According to the 2016 mid-term population statistics, there are more than 650,000 people working in the same district in Hong Kong. When the minimum public transport fare requirement is increased from 200 yuan to the old system of 400 yuan, the new bus and citybus have been approved by the government this year. During the phase increase of 12%, the KMB is also allowed to increase the fare. The average fare increase of about 350 independently operated routes is 5.8%. For the current grassroots working in the same district, they will have to face the problem of rising living costs and loss of transportation allowance support in disguise. , Increasing their economic pressure.

How to radically reduce transportation expenses

Especially when the government currently lacks welfare support for the working class, and further reduces the nominal welfare, that is, the transportation allowance is not ideal. Instead, it should consider lowering the subsidy threshold so that the number of beneficiaries can increase while covering more working classes. Effect.

According to data from the Transport Panel of the Legislative Council, the average number of beneficiaries in the first year of the plan is about 2.2 million, of which about 1.58 million people received an average annual subsidy of 100 yuan or less, accounting for 74.1% of the beneficiaries. The largest share means that under the minimum public transportation cost of 400 yuan, the monthly transportation cost of most beneficiaries falls within 700 yuan.

Since July 2020, due to the lower public transport fare requirement to 200 yuan, the average number of beneficiaries from July to December 2020 has risen to 2.53 million, of which about 1.63 million people earned an average of 100 yuan or less throughout the year The subsidy amount, that is, the monthly transportation expenses of the most beneficiaries falls within 600 yuan, even the "wage earners" who do not need to work across districts can benefit.

When the current average monthly subsidy amount is higher than 200 to 300 yuan, only a small number of citizens, the government needs to adjust the subsidy plan, even if there are financial considerations, it should choose to adjust the subsidy ceiling amount instead of starting With the increase in the minimum public transport fare requirement, the government needs to fill in the different blind spots in the current social welfare and expand social security. It should not ignore every class in the society.

Furthermore, the more fundamental problem stems from the high cost of transportation. When the government can focus on dealing with related problems and cooperate with corresponding measures to reduce the need for citizens to work across districts, it is the best way to help the labor class.

"Luxury bus" has not achieved much. Reform of traffic roads is still far away. Route 11 plan is released and the root cause must be paid for "New Territories cattle" job opportunities. Reform capitalism to buy back MTR!

|Yu Pinhai

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-12-22

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