Hong Kong authorities will launch advertisments and a transport guide to help elderly residents adapt to the revised HK$2 (26 US cents) transport fare scheme coming into effect next Friday, according to the city’s welfare chief.
“On Monday, I met with district councillors and care teams from different districts and they offered many suggestions, such as how to make it easier for the elderly to differentiate routes with the HK$2 fare and those with a 20 per cent discount,” he told a radio show.
Posters and explanatory materials would be displayed at government-run elderly centres while ambassadors for the scheme would be stationed at 75 locations across Hong Kong, he said.
Citing Yuen Long as an example, Sun noted that many elderly people were used to taking long-haul buses from the New Territories into town despite the short journey.
“Our guide can teach them how to take short-haul buses that cost below HK$10, and avoid routes beginning with the number 9, which are usually urban routes that cross the harbour,” he said.
An example in the guide showed that elderly commuters could get from Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay to Queen Street in Sheung Wan by taking bus 5B, bus 26 or the tram, instead of bus 969, which runs between Causeway Bay and Tin Shui Wai. This would save them HK$3.50.
