TNAG-0854-FCO40-1064-The-Kowloon-Canton-Railway-1979 — Page 2

It is proposed that the subsidy element in KCR student tickets should be decreased to 50% by increasing the price of a student ticket to the equivalent of the child fare with effect from 1st March 1979 (when the current six-monthly scholar tickets expire). This would effectively mean that students travelling on KCR would receive the same level of subsidy as students travelling on other forms of public transport on which the Government pays student travel subsidies. Legally, the General Manager Railway has the necessary powers to effect the increase under section 29 of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Ordinance (Chapter 99), but it is felt that Members would wish to have an opportunity to consider the proposal since it will affect about 17, 000 students and their families. A particular effect will, of course, be on students of the Chinese University who, because of the University's location, are heavy train users (some 3,000 of them apply for KCR passes each year). The University's intake is not localised and its students are accustomed to relatively long journeys at a low price.

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Under this proposal scholar tickets would continue to be available to students of any age who are engaged on a full-time course of primary, secondary or post-secondary (but not post-graduate) study approved by the Director of Education. The tickets would also continue to be valid for all journeys except those undertaken on Sundays and public holidays. To minimise any hardship that may arise for low income families it is also proposed that the new student tickets should be issued on a monthly rather than a six-monthly basis. Furthermore, it is proposed to include an element in recognition of travel expenses within the University and Polytechnic student finance scheme.

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Because the price of the new tickets would be directly proportional to distance travelled (the basis of the normal fare structure), instead of a flat rate irrespective of distance, it follows that the further the distance travelled the greater would be the increase in cost. Thus the cost for a scholar ticket between Kowloon and University would be increased from an equivalent of $8 per month to $20 per month whereas, at the lower extreme, the cost of a ticket between Hung Hom and Mongkok would remain at $8 per month. The table annexed shows the fare comparison between the existing and proposed student ticket (for students over 12 years of age) and the present volumes of student travel.

C.S. 166

CONFIDENTIAL