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Tanna Chong

The MTR Corporation has promised to review fares on the new Kowloon Southern Link after a flood of complaints about 'unreasonable' ticketing arrangements.
Passengers were upset that a trip from Hung Hom to the new Austin station cost more than from Hung Hom to Nam Cheong, which was one stop further.
Travellers who enjoyed a free shuttle bus from Nam Cheong to East Tsim Sha Tsui before the link was built are also angry that they will now have to pay for the train trip, pushing up their transport costs by as much as 30 per cent.
'We may rectify the fares in future,' deputy corporate relations manager May Wong said yesterday.
A trip from Hung Hom to Austin on the new line costs HK$5 with an Octopus card and HK$6 on a single-trip ticket, compared  with HK$4.30 and HK$5 to Nam Cheong. 
Ms Wong told an RTHK programme the Hung Hom-Austin fare was set the same as that from Hung Hom to Kowloon station, a similar distance, while the fares to other stations had intentionally been kept unchanged to affect the fewest people.
Meanwhile, Yuen Long district councillor Michael Luk Chung-hung  said residents in his area would have to pay more to reach East Tsim Sha Tsui through the new link.
K16, a free MTR bus from Nam Cheong to East Tsim Sha Tsui, began charging HK$4.40 when the link opened on Sunday. It will stop running next month, after which commuters will pay HK$3.90 for the segment by rail.
'A trip from Yuen Long to East Tsim Sha Tsui costs 30 per cent more since the launch of the Southern Link,' Mr Luk said.
Confusion also reigned among passengers over transfers, although the MTR said the new link ran smoothly on its first working day.
While the East Rail Line  had terminated at East Tsim Sha Tsui since that station opened in 2005, Hung Hom is now the terminus for both the East Rail and West Rail lines, which are joined by the Southern Link. 
This means East Rail passengers bound for East Tsim Sha Tsui have to change at Hung Hom for the last leg. Those going to East Tsim Sha Tsui have to transfer to the West Rail Line  at Hung Hom, on the opposite platform. East Rail and West Rail trains  alternate their departures from platforms on opposite sides of the station.
This gives transferring passengers the option of staying on the platform where they alight and catching the next train there, or crossing the concourse to catch an earlier one.
This caused confusion yesterday. 'No one told me there were two platforms for trains on the East Rail Line,' Adam Giles, who was going to Lok Ma Chau, said. 'If I had known there is another platform for the line, I would have gone there for the train that departed earlier,' he said, having waited for 10 minutes for a train.



MTR to review fares after complaints