100 trams on track with e-payment fare machines

Over 100 trams have launched a new fare machine, which accepts 12 electronic payment methods - including credit cards and Alipay - to facilitate tourists, Hong Kong Tramway said.

The company has over 160 trams. The installation works of the new machine will be completed in three weeks, operations manager Benjamin Lee Ming-yiu said.

"Tourists who visit Hong Kong for a short-haul trip are less likely to buy an Octopus card as it will be useless to them after they leave the city and some may not have enough cash," Lee said.

Previously, trams only accepted Octopus cards or cash, but now Hong Kong Tramway is conducting a trial - expected to be completed by September - on collecting fares through e-payment means including credit cards, Alipay, Union Pay, BOC Pay, Huawei Pay, Apply Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

But WeChat Pay is not included. Lee said the payment method will be available in the next phase, without stating an exact date.

Lee also said the company has no plans to import mainland tram motormen in the short-term, despite facing a manpower shortage of 10 to 15 percent. The company now has some 270 motormen, short of its ideal manpower supply of 300. But the company will try "every way" to recruit new blood, including part-time workers, Lee added.

When asked if the company will apply for a fare hike, managing director Paul Tirvaudey said that although the company faced a deficit during the Covid pandemic, it is now financially healthy and has no plans to do so this year.

Communications and brand head Nixon Cheung Wing-hang said non-fare revenue accounted for half of the tram company's total revenue, including from advertisements and free ride days sponsored by companies as well as local star fan clubs.

Cheung said the tram company had a total of 12 free ride days last year, bringing the company a net revenue of some HK$12 million.

Tirvaudey also said the company will relaunch its sightseeing TramOramic tram tour in September, which had been suspended since March 2020.

It is expected that the tour - hosted six times daily - can serve over 100 tourists per day.

The 60-minute tour will start at Western Market in Sheung Wan and end at Regal Hotel in Causeway Bay, costing HK$150 per head.

The tour also provides guided tour services in eight languages - Cantonese, Putonghua, English, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish and Russian.

"I think the biggest advantage of TramOramic is that we offer tour guides in eight languages and the tram has a fully open top," he said.