600,000 elderly Hong Kong residents will need to apply for new personalised Octopus card for HK$2 fare scheme
- New cards issued by the city’s largest e-payment provider for those aged between 60 and 64 will show the user’s name and recent profile photo
- Welfare chief says move necessary to prevent abuses of programme that could cost Hong Kong more than HK$100 million annually
Some 600,000 elderly Hong Kong residents will need to apply for new, personalised Octopus cards to benefit from a discounted public transport scheme, which has been extended to cover red minibuses, ferry services to outlying islands and trams.
The new personalised cards issued by the city’s largest e-payment provider, Octopus, for those aged between 60 and 64 will show the user’s name and a recent profile photo.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong on Tuesday said adding personal details to the new card was crucial to correctly verify the age and identity of the cardholder and prevent what he suggested was the ongoing abuse of the scheme’s flat-rate HK$2 fare on public transport.
“Given the ageing population, and the lack of means-testing for the HK$2 scheme, any abuse ... of the scheme will pose a large financial cost in the long term,” Law said, adding the government could lose more than HK$100 million annually if people continued abusing the scheme.
Since the Octopus cards currently used for the programme can be purchased without proof of age or identity, Law said it would be easy for residents to buy several of them, then give them to other family members or even out-of-town visitors.