Bus passengers may have to pay up to 50 cents more per trip from next year. New World First Bus announced yesterday it had applied for an average 9.2 per cent fare increase from January, ending a three-year freeze.
The company said it had made every effort to delay the increase and cut operating costs, such as rationalising its routes and scaling down its maintenance division, since taking over from China Motor Bus in September 1998.
However, fuel price rises, the proposed switch to the more expensive ultra-low-sulphur diesel and a modest wage increase to staff from last month had left the firm with little room to play with, it said.
Managing director Adolf Hsu Hung said the fare rise should be acceptable to the public, because the economy had stabilised.
He denied the timing of the application had anything to do with the Transport Department's proposed changes to its formula on bus fare adjustment. The department suggests operators will have applications for fare increases rejected if their profits exceed 13 per cent - the average rate of return of all bus operators in the past decade.
First Bus operates 99 routes. Rivals Kowloon Motor Bus and Citybus said they had no plans to seek higher fares, which were last raised in December 1997 by up to eight per cent.
