Workers whose meagre salaries are eaten up by the cost of travelling long distances to their jobs will be among commuters to benefit from a bus-fare adjustment mechanism to be unveiled next month, the transport chief said yesterday.
Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung said living costs would be factored in to a new formula.
'This will be something the public can understand, with living costs incorporated in a formula with higher transparency,' she said, reporting to the legislature on the transport policy outlined in the chief executive's policy address.
'This is some sort of a model of capping the fares,' she said, without elaborating.
The idea for a new mechanism allowing operators to raise and reduce fares arose when prolonged deflation after the 1997 Asian financial crisis triggered calls for cuts.
Addressing concerns raised by legislator Wong Kwok-hing over whether residents living in the northwestern New Territories could enjoy a fare cut, Dr Liao said long-distance bus travellers were a primary concern.
