HK$80 from Hong Kong to Zhuhai on mega bridge – sole bus rights go to group including ‘gambling queen’ Pansy Ho’s firm
Company run by daughter of Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho part of consortium that wins contract to provide shuttle service across multibillion-dollar link
A transport firm run by the daughter of Macau casino kingpin Stanley Ho Hung-sun looks set to cash in when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge opens, after a consortium which includes her company won the exclusive rights to run shuttle buses across the multibillion-dollar link.
Competition for transport business between the three cities is heating up ahead of the bridge’s opening later this year. The bridge shuttle service operator has reportedly set the fare at a drastically cheaper rate than competitors operating ferries or coaches on other routes.
It says it will charge HK$80 between Hong Kong and Zhuhai. A subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Shun Tak Holdings is a minor shareholder of the consortium.
Shun Tak already dominates the ferry market between Hong Kong and Macau with its TurboJET service, and is expected to gain the upper hand against rivals by securing the bridge bus contract.
The group’s executive chairman and managing director Pansy Ho Chiu-king, often referred to in southern China as the “gambling queen” owing to her father’s casino empire, disclosed the new service while announcing the group’s annual results this week.
“The company has participated in a consortium, via its subsidiary, which has succeeded in the tender,” she said.