Budget 2025: Hong Kong to cap use of HK$2 transport scheme for elderly and disabled to 240 trips per month
Hong Kong Free Press
The use of the HK$2 public transport fare for elderly Hong Kong residents and other eligible individuals will be capped at 240 trips per month, the city’s finance chief has said in his 2025 Budget speech.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday announced the government would scale back the subsidy scheme that cost the government almost HK$4 billion in the previous fiscal year amid a budget deficit.
Implemented in phases in 2012, the HK$2 scheme allows residents aged 60 and above – and eligible persons with disabilities – to pay a flat fare for most public modes of transport.
Chan said the government would retain the HK$2 fare for trips below HK$10. For fares above HK$10, however, the beneficiaries will need to pay 20 per cent of the original fare.
The finance minister said the types of resident benefitting from the HK$2 scheme would remain unchanged, despite earlier calls from political figures to increase the eligibility age to 65 or above: “This fine-tuned proposal preserves our policy intent while striking a balance between enhancing the sustainability of the scheme and minimising the impacts to the beneficiaries,” Chan said in Cantonese.
Bumper deficit
Calls for the government to adjust the HK$2 programme came amid projections of a fiscal deficit for the third consecutive year. The finance chief estimated that the deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year will be just below HK$100 billion.
On Wednesday, Chan opened his speech by describing the 2025 Budget as a “reinforced version” of the fiscal consolidation programme. It included a cumulative reduction of government recurrent expenditure by seven per cent from now through 2027-28.
“Strictly containing public expenditure is a must, but we should proceed in a steady and prudent manner and be careful to find a balance among the various impacts that may arise in the process,” Chan said.
Last November, the authorities said 3,080 people were inspected for suspected abuse of the HK$2 scheme since the Transport Department and public transport operators stepped up joint enforcement actions in June 2023.
Seven suspected abuse cases were referred to the police for investigation, with two passengers among them prosecuted. Both were required to repay the underpaid fares as well as being fined up to HK$14,000.
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