Jake's View | MTR must escape illogical fare policy
What the chart tells you is that fare levels on the Mass Transit Railway are almost exactly where they were 10 years ago, while the overall consumer price index is up 25 per cent over that period.
The government aims to cut the MTR's proposed 3.2 per cent increase by half, according to a lawmaker briefed on negotiations between the two sides on new tariffs.
It's not good practice for a columnist to run the same chart twice within two weeks and, if I do it now, it's not because I'm naturally lazy (although I am) but because the point of this one needs emphasis.
What the chart tells you is that fare levels on the Mass Transit Railway are almost exactly where they were 10 years ago, while the overall consumer price index is up 25 per cent over that period.
You can now travel from one end of the MTR system, the Chai Wan terminus of the Island Line, all the way to the furthest other end, the Tuen Mun terminus of the West Rail line, for less than it would cost you to travel a single stop on the London Underground.
Yet here once again we have our legislators talking of denying the MTR a fare increase determined under a fare-setting mechanism that they themselves approved. Their objection is apparently that they now don't like the level of profits this would give the MTR and, on the part of at least one ignoramus, that the MTR's services are allegedly deteriorating.
Let's not bother trying to find the reasoning behind these arguments. I would be very surprised if there were any. It is not required of legislators in financial matters, as few if any of them understand what they're talking about in finance.