Coronavirus in Hong Kong: MTR Corp’s passenger numbers plummet amid outbreak

Rail giant – already battered by months of unrest – had to suspend all services across border with mainland China

Domestic ridership was down 21 per cent in January, year on year, while 40 per cent drop recorded on cross-boundary high-speed line

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A man sits on an MTR carriage at Causeway Bay station. Ridership figures are down on the MTR, as the coronavirus affects Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 3:28pm, 25 Feb 2020Updated: 11:32pm, 25 Feb 2020

Hong Kong’s coronavirus outbreak has brought a steep fall in January passenger numbers for a city rail operator already battered by months of anti-government unrest, with observers warning of even more hard times ahead.

According to the latest figures from the MTR Corporation, ridership on domestic services was 116.5 million in January, down 21 per cent year on year.

Its high-speed link to mainland China recorded the biggest drop in traveller numbers – down almost 40 per cent to 1.05 million, from 1.7 million in January last year.

The grim figures came as the rail giant, already reeling from the suspension of the high-speed and through-train services to the mainland in late January, shut its remaining cross-border service at Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations on the East Rail line early this month, in a bid to limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has infected more than 80 people in the city.

The Airport Express was the second-hardest hit last month, with passenger numbers plunging almost 36 per cent year on year to 972,000, from 1.5 million. Other cross-border rail services also took a severe beating, with passenger numbers for January down by 32 per cent to 7 million from 10.4 million a year ago.