Lamma Island ferry firm to apply for fare increase
Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry plans to seek a $2 fare increase on its Lamma Island service to curb mounting losses caused by soaring fuel costs. The increase - a year after the ferry operator's last fare rise - would apply only to its Monday-to-Saturday service. Monthly tickets would cost $45 more.
Islands District Council chairman Lam Wai-keung said he feared the proposed fare increase, which came a fortnight after New World First Ferry raised fares to Cheung Chau, Peng Chau and Mui Wo, would further hurt the economies of the outlying islands. 'The scale of the increase is shocking as it deviates from inflation and is at least 10 per cent. I hope the government considers inflation when assessing the application,' he said.
Lau Kong-wah, chairman of Legco's transport panel, urged the government not to approve the fare rise as salaries had not increased despite the economic recovery. He said the ferry operator should seek to impose a fuel surcharge instead.
Speaking on Metro Radio yesterday, Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings general manager Nelson Ng said the company had accumulated losses of $23 million and expected to lose another $7 million this year due to oil prices which had trebled since it took over the routes in 2000.
'Even raising fares by 10 cents will be opposed nowadays. We are only making the application after having studied our financial expenditure carefully,' he said.
'To be frank, we need to increase fares by $3 to $4 in order to balance the books. But we have to consider the well-being of the island residents as well.'
