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| Prototype of JoyYou card from MTR Corporation |
The government appears to have found a way to curb the huge public spending on the $2 fare scheme for the elderly and qualified people with total disability.
Various media reports
say that a daily usage cap of eight times could be implemented.
In addition, the $2
subsidy could be availed of if the fare is $10 or less. Above this, an 80
percent discount would be implemented, so that an $11 fare would result in the relevant
passenger paying $2.2 and so on.
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This is intended to
stop some passengers using the discount to take long-haul routes for short
rides.
The news comes before Financial
Secretary Paul Chan is set to deliver his 2025-202 budget next Wednesday.
He had earlier hinted
that the discounted fare benefit could be adjusted, as the annual expenditure
for the program had reached almost $4 billion in the last fiscal year. This
marked a 200 percent increase compared with the $1.3 billion spent in the
2019-20 fiscal year.
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Some legislators have
suggested reverting to the old policy of giving the discount only to those aged
65 and above, but the government did not seem to favor this.
Some non-government
organizations and community groups totally opposed the idea of cutting back on
the discount, saying it was a small benefit given to elderly residents.
The use of the $2 fare
discount was limited to residents using only the JoyYou card as of August 25 last year.
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Previously, anyone using the Octopus elderly card, or those aged 65 and above
using a personalized Octopus card, could avail of the benefit when they took
most public transportation, including the MTR and buses.
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