BUS fare increases cannot be set solely by tying them to inflation despite repeated calls from political parties to do so, Secretary for Transport Haider Barma said.
''I must stress that it is totally unrealistic to pin annual adjustments of fares to inflation alone since the factors that need to be taken into account are much, much wider,'' he said.
Bus companies had to be given the necessary incentive to continue to invest.
But he also assured members that the Government would examine how profits from land sales by the franchised bus operators could be taken into account in determining fares.
It was also the intention to remove the remaining scheme of control under which the profits of bus companies are guaranteed.
And he said a working group was looking at measures to combat traffic congestion and hoped to be able to brief the Legco transport panel on them by mid-year.
