Citybus and NWFB passengers plunge 40 pc during fifth wave

Citybus and New World First Bus' parent company Bravo Transport Holdings has urged the government to subsidize public transport companies, saying it has been hit by a plunge in passengers amid the fifth wave of Covid-19 outbreak.

Passengers on Citybus and New World First Bus have decreased by 40 percent in the latest outbreak, while the public transport industry as a whole has seen a 30 percent loss, the company stated on Sunday.

Under the pandemic, Bravo Transport had already been losing HK$25 million a month. With the government's latest social distancing measures and government employees' work-from-home arrangement during the fifth wave, the company expects to see its financial situation deteriorate.

The bus company has urged the government to give subsidies to public transport companies to cover bus staffers' wages, saying its frontline drivers work relentlessly to provide essential public services to citizens.

“We believe that other public transport operators and those in the service industry, such as the catering and tourism sector, are seeing bleak and uncertain futures the same way we do,” it stated.