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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, (in the absence of Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works) at the Legislative Council meeting today (May 17):
Question:
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) introduced two monthly ticket schemes, namely East Rail One-Month Pass and Ma On Shan Rail One-Month Pass, in April last year and January this year respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the average number of monthly tickets sold each month under each of the above schemes;
(b) whether the patronage of the East Rail and Ma On Shan Rail has increased and the financial position of the two Rails has improved after the introduction of the monthly ticket schemes; if so, of the average increase per month in the patronage of the two Rails, as well as the details of improvements in their financial position; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether KCRC has conducted any passenger opinion surveys on the monthly ticket schemes, with a view to making improvements; if so, of the outcome of the surveys and the improvements made; if not, whether such surveys will be conducted?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), in the first four months of 2006, the average monthly sales of East Rail (ER) One-Month Pass and Ma On Shan Rail (MOSR) One-Month Pass are 39,500 and 22,500 respectively, adding to the average monthly sale of 62,000 passes in total.
(b) According to the Corporation, while both ER One-Month Pass and MOSR One-Month Pass have encouraged more passengers to travel by KCR, it is difficult to evaluate the patronage increase solely generated from the said passes as the Corporation also provides other promotional programmes in parallel. As a reference, when the ER One-Month Pass was introduced in April 2005, patronage of ER increased by about 20,000 from 630,000 in the previous month, whereas introduction of MOSR One-Month Pass in January 2006 boosted the patronage of MOSR by 8,000 from 112,000 in the previous month.
As regards financial position, KCRC said that ER One-Month Pass is almost close to revenue neutral. However, as the introduction of MOSR One-Month Pass cannot induce the expected increase in patronage and fails to make up for the overall loss in fare revenue, the Corporation believes that it would be difficult to extend the scheme beyond its trial period.
(c) Since ER One-Month Pass and MOSR One-Month Pass are implemented as promotional programmes, KCRC has not conducted any passenger surveys in that regard. As for the current ticketing system (including the overall fare level) and other services, KCRC collects and follows up suggestions from passengers through various channels. These include Public Consultation Group on Railway Operations, Passenger Liaison Groups, Passenger' Cafes and regular opinion surveys etc. KCRC will take these views into account when considering improvement to its services.
Ends/Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:43
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