More to enjoy $2 fare next year

The HK$2 concessionary fare scheme for the elderly will be expanded to cover those aged 60 to 64 as early as the first quarter of next year, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong told lawmakers.

Speaking in a welfare services panel meeting yesterday, Law laid out the timetable for the long-awaited expansion of the scheme that allows the elderly and the disabled to take public transport, including the MTR, ferries, buses and green minibuses for a HK$2 fee via Octopus card.

While officials first proposed lowering the age threshold from 65 to 60 early last year, progress has been slow, as they sought to tackle the problem of abuse at the same time.

Government statistics showed there were 3.6 million anonymous elder Octopus cards in use held by Hongkongers aged 65 or above in 2019, but the city only had 1.32 million people in that age category that year. Authorities recorded 339 suspected abuses of the scheme from 2017 to 2019.

Law said that those aged 60 to 64 will have to register for personalized Octopus cards to enjoy the scheme, instead of using standard ones.

Some 600,000 people aged 60 to 64 can join the scheme after the registration period, which will end as early as the first quarter of 2022. The government will then further impose the compulsory use of personalized Octopus cards on 1.32 million elders aged 65 or above within two years.

Law said there is an "urgent need" for the new restriction, as many in their early 60s still have active social lives and take public transport frequently, which will be a burden on government expenditure.

"[The use of] anonymous Octopus cards is the source of abuse," Law said. "If we don't solve this issue first and go ahead with the expansion, there's no way back."

He also said authorities will review the scheme every five years, including whether to push up the HK$2 fare based on the aging population.

But lawmakers asked why the government had failed to act on abuse earlier, while pressuring Law to shorten the time needed to implement the expansion.