Private car toll fees increase by 18pc on Hong Kong’s Tate’s Cairn Tunnel

Tolls for cars using Tate's Cairn Tunnel will rise 18 per cent from New Year's Day - taking them to more than twice the level of two other tunnels linking Kowloon and Sha Tin.

The Executive Council last month approved a request by Tate's Cairn Tunnel Company to push the fee for private cars and taxis up HK$3 to HK$20. For motorcycles, the toll will go up HK$2 to HK$15, while for double-decker buses it will be HK$35, up HK$1. Minibus and truck tolls remain unchanged at between HK$23 and HK$28.

The company says the increase - the eighth since the tunnel opened in 1991 - will be the last before its franchise expires in 2018. Tolls last rose in 2013.

The Transport Bureau said it had negotiated to defer the toll rise for a month, but acknowledged in a paper to lawmakers that the increase "may still incur criticism by some members of the public".

Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, convenor of the Coalition to Monitor Public Transport and Utilities, criticised the increase and noted that the government-operated Lion Rock and Sha Tin Heights tunnels charged just HK$8 for all vehicles. "Even if the increase is lower than cumulative inflation, it doesn't mean it is justifiable," Tsoi said.

The government said the impact on traffic was unlikely to be significant. The operator estimated about 700 vehicles a day would be diverted to Lion Rock.