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Running on empty: soaring fuel prices push Hong Kong’s bus, taxi drivers to the breaking point

  • Transport group appeals for help, as government pandemic subsidies for sector came to an end months ago
  • School bus drivers say they are stuck, cannot raise prices as contracts run for two or three years

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A Caltex petrol station employee fuels a customer’s car in Wan Chai. Photo: Dickson Lee

Honda Hon Tat-kwong has been driving children to school in his 13-seater minibus for the past 10 years, and he has never felt so anxious about rising fuel prices.

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The price of diesel shot up from HK$15.40 (US$1.98) per litre in January to HK$17.75 per litre in October.

“The fuel costs of HK$5,000 to HK$6,000 a month eat up about 20 per cent of my income. And I still have to pay for maintenance, parking and insurance,” Hon said.

The 33-year-old’s woes have been piling on since the coronavirus pandemic struck last year, as frequent school closures kept children at home, and many students from mainland China returned there.

Warrance Travel, which Hon works for, has a fleet of 10 school buses of different sizes.

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Before the pandemic, it had 15 drivers and the same number of minders who took care of the children along the way. Hon said the company had lost 40 per cent of clients, let go a third of its employees and seen its income plunge by 20 per cent.

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