Cheaper travel will help ease the burden of Hong Kong’s working elderly and encourage them to take more active roles in society, experts say

Professor Paul Yip of the University of Hong Kong says public transport subsidy will increase the mobility of elderly people

Ng Wai-tung of Society for Community Organisation says expansion of the HK$2 per ride scheme will relieve the elderly of some of their burdens

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A growing number of retired Hongkongers are returning to the labour market. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 9:00am, 19 Jan 2020Updated: 9:32pm, 19 Jan 2020

Every morning, Cheung, 62, takes the MTR from Kowloon to Causeway Bay for work, and the cross-harbour ride costs her more than HK$10 (US$1.3).

She earns HK$50 an hour handing out fliers of restaurants among people on the streets. Cheung, who wanted to be identified only by her surname, works for several hours a day to get her “hard-earned money”.

But work has become harder to come by, as the city’s recession has forced many eateries out of business and surviving ones to cut budgets, she says.

For Cheung, who earns about HK$4,000 a month, every little bit counts. She looks forward to enjoying a ride for only HK$2 on the city’s public transport before reaching 65, availing a new scheme proposed by the government to ease the burden on the poor and the elderly.

“It can save me hundreds of dollars a month, which I can use on household expenditure,” she said.

The Hong Kong government has lowered the age threshold of residents from 65 to 60 for using public transport for just HK$2 per ride. Photo: Sam Tsang

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