Hong Kong should find a way to allow the taxi trade and ride-hailing services to compete and complement each other, even though cab owners blame competition from unregulated platforms for lowering the value of their licences, lawmakers have said. Debate on the way forward for the trade followed calls from some industry leaders for the…
Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation may face a penalty of HK$19.2 million (US$2.4 million) for a five-hour service suspension on the Tseung Kwan O line caused by malfunctions on Thursday, with the firm under mounting pressure to overhaul overhead cables and speed up inspections using technology. Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu said on Friday…
Boosting internet connectivity at border checkpoints and raising environmental awareness in rural areas are among the improvement measures suggested by observers based on lessons learned from this year’s “Labour Day” golden week holiday for Hong Kong authorities. The recommendation comes after tourists struggled to generate QR code tickets for their trains due to an overloaded…
Hong Kong authorities have expressed “grave concern” and pledged to conduct a special audit of the maintenance capabilities of the MTR Corporation after services were disrupted two times in three months on the same line due to faults that left engineering trains stranded on the tracks. A lawmaker on Monday also called on the city’s…
Hong Kong lawmakers have proposed increasing the Airport Express’ ridership by improving the service’s connections to the city’s high-speed rail station and a mega bridge, as well as by maintaining cheaper fares to AsiaWorld-Expo. Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu suggested on a radio programme on Wednesday that links with the two sites would help to increase…
The Hong Kong government plans to raise the fixed HK$320 (US$41) penalty for illegal parking to HK$400, while fines for speeding and other more severe traffic offences will increase by about 50 per cent, the Post has learned. A source said on Wednesday that the fee review, part of a bigger strategy announced earlier to…
Newly launched premium taxi fleet JOIE was off to a bumpy start, as users faced multiple cancelled orders on its first full day of operation despite submitting requests over an hour in advance. All four attempts by two Post reporters to hail a ride on Tuesday morning via the newly launched JOIE app, which officially…
A Hong Kong public transport subsidy scheme will only start charging elderly and passengers with disabilities 20 per cent for more expensive routes from September of next year, with authorities blaming stored-value card company Octopus for the delay, the Post has learned. The HK$2 (US$0.26) concession scheme is being revised as part of spending cuts…
The Hong Kong government’s proposed adjustment to the controversial HK$2 (25 US cents) transport subsidy scheme for the elderly will fail to tackle the deficit and instead alienate the demographic, social policy experts have said. Nelson Chow Wing-sun, an emeritus professor at University of Hong Kong’s department of social work and social administration, was among…
Hong Kong’s rail giant and transport authorities have come under pressure to review their penalty mechanism after a train fault caused a seven-hour service disruption, despite industry insiders calling the incident rare. Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu said on Thursday that the current penalty system for service delays failed to reflect the scale of the disruption…