With the December 2 merger of Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) and Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), the new operator will offer fare cuts with immediate effect. The 2.8-million passengers holding Octopus Cards will be the first to reap the benefit.

In general, all fares will be reduced by 20 cents, while passengers will enjoy concession fares for interchange train services at Kowloon Tong, Mei Foo and Nam Cheong stations with the elimination of the second boarding charge.

The MTRC yesterday announced the new fare structure at a press conference. All Octopus Card holders will get 20 cents fare reduction, while fares above HK$12 will be reduced by HK$1, said Miranda Leung, general manager (Corporate affairs).

In general, fares for long-haul trips above HK$12 will see at least a 10 percent cut while fares between HK$8.5 and HK$11.9 will be cut by at least five percent. Certain long-haul trips can enjoy as high as a 35 percent fare reduction, she added. The current fare for a trip from Tin Shui Wai to Shatin will be reduced from HK$23.3 to HK$15.1 after the merger. The new fare system will take effect from the first train at 5.28 am on the day of the merger.

However, fares below HK$8.5 will only be cut by 20 cents. Jeny Yeung, general manager for marketing and station business, said the aim of such arrangement is to benefit as many commuters as possible, including short-haul commuters without using interchange services.

However, the passengers who want to enjoy concession fares when using the interchange services, need to use the same Octopus Card for the connection rides and a transfer must be made within 30 minutes. Moreover, they must not use the Octopus Card to ride on other public transports in between. If they use the same card to do non-transport transactions, they must not do it more than eight times.

And as the turnstiles in the three interchange stations namely Kowloon Tong, Mei Foo and Nam Cheong will only be removed one year after the merger, single ticket holders will only enjoy lower fares by that time.

Legislators, however, said the margin of reduction was not enough. Andrew Cheng, chairman of the Legislative Council Panel on Transport, said only 10 percent of the passengers will enjoy 10 percent or higher fare reduction while the remaining passengers can merely enjoy five percent reduction. "It is disappointing that only very little synergy arises from the merger," he said.

Lau Kong-wah, deputy chairman of Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said: "It looks the reductions are not that big, but it is better than nothing because we have been asking for fare reductions for four or five years." He also agreed with Cheng that monthly passes should be retained to benefit more passengers especially those living in the remote areas.

Meanwhile, the fare cuts evoked mixed response from commuters. Miss Chan, a teacher who travels between Causeway Bay and Kowloon Bay daily, said the reduction rate was acceptable and a Mr Cheung said reduction was better than no reduction. But Mr Cheng, a salesman who travels between Mongkok, Mei Foo and Yuen Long daily, said the fares should have been cut by 30 percent. He said a 20 percent cut should be made upon the merger while the other 10 percent should cater for falling price of goods since 1997. Miss Chow, a nurse, also said the 20 cents reduction was not adequate.

Because of the merger, the KCRC logo will be replaced, while the train system map will be updated to include the KCRC system. The Chinese name of the new company will be renamed and some stations will also be renamed.

(HK Edition 11/23/2007 page6)