Hong Kong’s Tai Lam Tunnel operator to raise tolls by up to 9 per cent from July 18
- Fees for vehicles in various categories to increase from between HK$4 and HK$15
- Tunnel’s business has taken a hit due to Covid-19, with daily average traffic as of June this year down 10.7 per cent from 2019
Travel via the Tai Lam Tunnel, a transport link between Ting Kau and Yuen Long in Hong Kong’s western New Territories, is set to become more expensive, after its operator announced on Friday tolls would be increased by up to 9 per cent from July 18.
Fees will go up by HK$4 for private cars, taxis, light and medium goods vehicles; HK$5 for heavy goods vehicles; HK$9 for minibuses, and HK$12 and HK$15 for single-decker and double-decker buses, respectively.
Route 3 (CPS) Company, the tunnel’s operator, said business had suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to a drop of 10.7 per cent in traffic from a daily average of 51,464 in 2019 to 45,968 as of June this year, and down 25 per cent from 61,528 in 2017.
“Suffering from the persistently poor economic situation, the traffic at the Tai Lam Tunnel has been decreasing gradually in the past few years. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, the traffic of Tai Lam Tunnel has been further reduced,” the operator said in a statement.
The opening of the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok tunnel late last year was another blow for the firm, it said, as that led to the re-routing of some franchise bus services originally using the Tai Lam link.
“All these factors effectively eroded the revenue of Tai Lam Tunnel,” it said.
Its three concessionary programmes for empty taxis, empty trailers and heavy goods vehicles at midnight will be continued.
