ENG-2017 — Page 278

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Transport

Franchised bus companies offer concessionary half fares for children under 12. Section fares are available for about 80 per cent of mid-distance and long-distance routes, involving about 440 routes. The companies also provide about 305 bus-bus interchange concession schemes, covering about 400 bus routes, or about 72 per cent of all routes. The tramway and ferries have discount fares for the elderly and children, and some GMB routes grant concessionary fares.

Government's Fare Concessions for Elderly and Persons with Disabilities

The Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities encourages residents aged 65 or above and those with disabilities to participate more in community activities. Those eligible pay $2 per trip on designated public transport, covering the general MTR lines', franchised bus routes, ferry routes and GMB routes. As at end-December, the scheme recorded about 1,045,700 passenger trips on average daily.

Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme

In the October Policy Address, a non-means-tested Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme was proposed to relieve the fare burden of commuters who travelled daily on local public transport and incurred relatively high public transport expenses. The government will provide commuters with subsidies amounting to 25 per cent of their actual monthly public transport expenses in excess of $400, subject to a cap of $300 per month. The scheme will cover the MTR, franchised buses, PLBs, ferries, kaitos, trams, and non-franchised buses providing residents' services and employees' services. It is estimated to give out about $2.3 billion annually to over 2.2 million commuters. The government will seek funding approval from the Legislative Council's Finance Committee in early 2018 with a view to implementing the scheme within a year upon approval.

The Port

Hong Kong is an international maritime centre and a regional hub port. During the year, 370,000 ocean-going vessels from all parts of the world and river-trade vessels from the Pearl River arrived in and departed from Hong Kong, involving around 280 million tonnes of cargo and 29 million cross-boundary ferry and cruise passenger journeys. Many high-speed ferries and local vessels operate in, or pass through, the harbour.

Hong Kong is also one of the busiest container ports in the world, handling around 21 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers (TEUs) in 2017.

Port Administration

The Marine Department administers the port, with its principal task to ensure the safety of navigation and efficiency of shipping activities in Hong Kong waters. This is achieved through comprehensive traffic management, harbour patrols, vessel traffic services, provision of mooring buoys and strict enforcement of rules and standards of the major international maritime conventions.

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General MTR lines refer to domestic services including the Light Rail and MTR buses in the northwest New Territories, and excluding the Airport Express, East Rail Line services between Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau and Racecourse stations, and the first-class service of the East Rail Line.

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