Good news for commuters from Sai Kung. The Transport Subsidy Scheme announced by the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) earlier this year has now been extended to red minibuses from 1 January 2019. Not all red minibus routes are included, but those to and from Sai Kung are on the list published last week.
Commuters are not required to submit any application for the Scheme or pre-register their Octopus. Commuters with monthly public transport expenses exceeding $400 are eligible for the public transport fare subsidy. The Government will provide a subsidy for 25 per cent of the actual public transport expenses in excess of $400, subject to a maximum of $300 per month.
The Scheme covers the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), franchised buses, green minibuses, ferries and trams, as well as designated routes of red minibuses, kaitos, non-franchised buses providing residents’ services and employees’ services approved by the TD. For red minibuses, residents’ services, employees’ services and kaitos, the logo of the Scheme will be displayed atop the Octopus readers and at the vehicles/vessels that have been approved to join the Scheme.
Daily public transport expenses paid by Octopus will be recorded automatically. Commuters who purchase designated transport tickets by cash or any payment means other than Octopus can go through a simple registration process to link up relevant expenses with Octopus records for calculation of total public transport expenses and the subsidy amount under the Scheme.
Commuters can collect the public transport fare subsidy for January 2019 starting from 16 February 2019. They can collect the public transport fare subsidy for the previous month by tapping their Octopus at the Subsidy Collection Points set up at each MTR station, Light Rail Customer Service Centre and designated ferry pier; the Octopus readers of any outlet of convenience stores including 7-Eleven and Circle K, as well as Wellcome supermarkets; the Octopus App; or Octopus Service Points. The subsidy will then be credited to the Octopus. The subsidy for each month is valid for collection within three months.
The THB has produced a useful pamphlet explaining all the combinations of travel and collection, as, at first glance, it all looks rather confusing. This can be downloaded from https://www.thb.gov.hk/eng/psp/publications/transport/publications/THB_pamphlet_ePage_final.pdf
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