Crack down on abuse of concession fare while reviewing costs
Whenever there are altruistic social programmes aimed at helping the needy, ageing or otherwise disadvantaged, it seems there are always some who will seek to take advantage. Such has been the case with abuses of the largesse offered to elderly or disabled residents through the government’s fare concession scheme, which allows those qualified to ride a variety of public transport for HK$2. The authorities are rightly cracking down.
The MTR Corporation this month said it had fined about 4,260 people between last June through this February for misusing the scheme. The Transport Department also conducted about 350 enforcement actions across 650 routes, including buses and ferries, and inspected about 2,360 passengers for alleged abuses over the same period. One passenger was fined about HK$14,000 and had to settle around HK$2,000 in unpaid fares. Another was under police investigation for a suspected criminal offence.
Launched in 2012 for those aged 65 and above, and disabled residents, the scheme set a flat HK$2 fare to ride the MTR, franchised buses, ferries, trams, kaito – a small ferry – and the green- and red-topped minibuses that ply the alleys, highways and waterways of Hong Kong. Ten years later, it was expanded to include those 60 and above, provided anyone under 65 applied for a personalised “JoyYou” card with the user’s photo.
It has naturally proved quite popular. More than 2.3 million daily passenger trips were made under the scheme between last March and the end of December. That compares to a total of 9.7 million public transport journeys a day in 2022, or about 9 million excluding taxis, according to Transport Department figures. But as use of concessionary fares has increased, so has the cost to the taxpayer for government subsidies to reimburse transport operators. Annual spending has ballooned nearly threefold from HK$1.3 billion in 2019-2020 to about HK$4 billion in 2023-24.
The pressure to control costs is real. The city’s overall deficit this financial year rose to HK$101.6 billion, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget released last month. Chan announced a review of the HK$2 scheme at the time, but said the government had no intention of cancelling it or a separate public transport subsidy scheme. An increase in the concessionary fare, for example, to HK$3, or an increase for fares when they exceed HK$10, are among ideas being considered.
Weighing the benefit to society with the growing costs required to maintain the programme, it is prudent for the government to pursue those fare absconders who are exploiting the system to ride for free – or rather, for HK$2.