THE Mass Transit Railway warned it would become dangerously overcrowded if a fare freeze announced yesterday by the Kowloon-Canton Railway brought too many extra passengers onto the MTR.
The KCR announced that tickets on both the heavy and light rails would be held at their 1993 level until next year.
But the MTR warned that extra KCR passengers would join the MTR at Kowloon Tong, with the risk that the already congested system would become even more crowded.
''It is going to make things very difficult,'' said a top MTR official. ''We are going to have to watch this very closely.'' An MTR spokesman said: ''The first we knew about this was this morning. We have not allowed for this to happen, we have not made any plans for it. We don't know how many more passengers this will bring onto us.'' The MTR said it would follow its usual practice and raise fares roughly in line with inflation, or 8.5 per cent.
The MTR's concern centres on the fact that Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) has applied for an average 19.6 per cent rise this year. The KCR's freeze would make the trains more attractive, said the MTR official.
''It will mean people coming off the buses.'' But KCR chairman Kevin Hyde said the fears were unfounded. ''Maybe they don't understand the market in the way we do. We are not expecting any change in travel patterns.