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Following is the transcript of remarks of the media session by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, after attending a radio programme this morning (April 16):
Reporter: Despite the high revenue, MTR still decided to increase the fare which is unfair to the citizens. What is the government's role on that?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I don't think it's fair to the MTR to say that it is unfair because we have to look at the actual operation of the present fare adjustment mechanism, to see whether it is really failing to address some of the concerns. Because in terms of the mechanism itself, it does factor in any increase in wages, any increase in prices which affect the operation of any transport operator. And in fact in the mechanism, we have built in a productivity factor which means that whatever figure calculated according to increase in wages and prices will be reduced by that factor in order to achieve efficiency. So therefore just looking at the face of it, we cannot say that the mechanism is unduly unfair. But of course there are views in the community that the formula hasn't really factored in the amount of profit that the operator is making, so if that's the concern, we will look at it. But even now because of the review in 2013, we have introduced a mechanism whereby the underlining profits of the MTR Corporation is split. There is some rebate from the underlining profits to passengers in the form of fare concession. So it is not true that the current mechanism entirely fails to relate to profits per se. But of course we will look at it. So before we have the review, I don't think it is fair to say the mechanism is unfair.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, April 16, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:43
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