Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme to cover four more vehicles

It will include red minibuses, shuttle buses, staff busses and short-distance ferry services.

The Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme will be expanded to cover four more transportation services including red minibuses, shuttle buses, staff busses and short-distance ferry services, according to a press release that quoted Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

The scheme initially covered only the fares for the MTR, franchised buses, green minibuses, ferries and trams.

"As I have emphasised time and again, my Government is characterised by really being very attentive to the needs of the people and we adopt a listening mode to the things that we are doing, so I find it a reasonable proposition to expand the scheme to include four other forms of public transport modes, so that more people could benefit and more operators could participate in the scheme," Lam said before an Executive Council meeting on December 12.

Operators must first install Octopus card readers and submit operational details to be covered in the proposed arrangement. 

No further details about the implementation have been set as the plans are still subject to the approval of the Legislative Council.