'Miserly' MTR urged to offer more discounts as fares go up 3.6pc
With fares due to go up 3.6 per cent on Sunday, lawmakers tell vastly profitable railway firm to offer more concessions to hard-up passengers
Lawmakers have hit out at the MTR Corporation's 3.6 per cent fare rise and urged it to offer more concessions when the increase takes effect on Sunday.
Members of the Legislative Council's panel on transport also urged the government to review the MTR fare-adjustment mechanism, under which the company was able to increase prices despite making large profits.
The MTR, which is 76.5 per cent-owned by the government, reported a net profit of HK$13 billion for the financial year.
With such big profits, the corporation has come under increasing pressure after revealing recently that all five of its expansion projects would fail to open on time.
It has also faced criticism over service failures and delays, while under a new government formula, many of its lines are considered to be at or close to capacity in the morning rush hour.
"The MTR is very good at making calculations. The MTR is very smart, like a miserly, wealthy man," lawmaker Ben Chan Han-pan, from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, told the panel's meeting yesterday - where lawmakers passed a non-binding motion condemning the rise.
MTR's commercial director, Jeny Yeung Mei-chun, told the panel the company would return HK$425 million to passengers by offering 10 per cent off every second journey each day, from Sunday until April next year.
