Letters | Use QR code mobile payments on Hong Kong MTR to cut costs and benefit more commuters

  • Developing the MTR’s QR code mobile payment system can help reduce the maintenance costs of multiple subsidy schemes and better direct their benefits to students, the elderly and low-income commuters in a timely manner

Commuters wait for their train at Tai Wai station in Sha Tin on October 16. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
In 2018, Alipay won the bid to provide QR code payment solutions to 91 MTR stations across the city as an alternative to Octopus cards by mid-2020. While the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the roll-out of the scheme, we believe Alipay should work more closely with the Hong Kong government and the MTR to optimise the three subsidy programmes – Student Travel Scheme, Fare Concession Scheme and Fare Subsidy Scheme.
Under the Student Travel Scheme of the MTR, full-time students aged between 12 and 25 can enjoy fare concessions by using personalised Octopus cards. In 2018, about 447,000 passenger trips were subsidised every day with a total annual subsidy of HK$700 million (US$90.3 million). While the MTR accepts online applications for the schemes from secondary school students, all university students except those from three self-financed colleges have to submit paper applications every year.
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