2. Rates and Fares.
23. Various alterations in rates and fares were made during the year with the object of stimulating traffic.
24. Second-class fares from Kowloon to Canton were reduced from $3.10 to $2.80 on the 1st May owing to the fact that the number of second-class passengers during the first four months of the year were 14.6% less than those for the corresponding period of the previous year. Stimulation was immediate, and the passengers carried during the remainder of the year exceeded the figures for the last eight months of 1933 by 11.4%.
25. First-class through returns from Kowloon to Canton and vice versa at the rate of one-and-two-thirds the single fare were instituted on the 1st May with a view to inducing more first-class passengers to travel by rail in both directions, instead of by river on the up journey and by rail from Canton. These tickets became quite popular, 3,876 of them having been sold during the year.
26. When the through express trains timings from Kowloon to Canton were reduced from 3 hours 10 minutes to 2 hours 57 minutes on the 1st October, the third-class fares to Canton were increased from $1.10 to $1.20 and the third-class terminal fares from Canton were increased from $1.60 to $1.80 Canton currency. Experience showed that the increase had no deleterious effect on up passengers, but that the number of down passengers decreased considerably. For this reason the down fare was restored to its original figure on the 1st November.
27. Combined Rail and Bus tickets from Kowloon to Wai Chow via Cheung Muk Tou, involving a reduction of 25% in ordinary fares, were introduced on the 1st January. These tickets have proved popular, the average monthly revenue accruing to the British Section from this source being $589.00. There should be further improvement in future, as the road between Cheung Muk Tou and Wai Chow was frequently impassable to motor traffic during the extremely wet summer experienced. In addition, the buses were not available to the general public in the early part of the year, for military reasons.
28. Special golfers' tickets at the rate of $10 per bundle of ten, each ticket being available for a journey in either direction between Kowloon and Sheung Shui, were introduced on the 1st May. These tickets were additional to the usual return tickets of $18.40 per bundle of ten. Only one bundle of the new type was sold for every eighteen of the old.
29. To stimulate declining third-class passenger traffic between Kowloon, Yaumati and Taipo Market, the experiment was tried in July of introducing third-class return fares between these points. The return fares were based on one-and-two-thirds the single rates, and the tickets were made available for three days. Healthy improvement occurred immediately and the betterment was progressive, the number of return tickets sold per month increasing from 1,081 in July to 3,299 in December.