9th March 2019 – (Hong Kong) Good news for MTR commuters. If you spend more than HK$400 per month on public transport in Hong Kong, you will be entitled to subsidies under the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme. The Scheme covers Mass Transit Railway (“MTR”), franchised buses, green minibuses, ferries, trams, and designated routes of red minibuses, kaitos, non-franchised buses providing residents’ services and employees’ services approved by the Transport Department.
The scheme has been implemented since beginning of this year. All commuters, regardless of their age and income levels, are not required to submit an application for the Scheme. Under the Scheme, commuters with monthly public transport expenses exceeding $400 are eligible for the public transport fare subsidy. The Government will provide a subsidy amounting to 25% of the actual monthly public transport expenses in excess of $400, subject to a maximum of $300 per month. The subsidy of each month will be calculated on the basis of the actual monthly public transport expenses recorded on each Octopus.
The Scheme covers all fares of MTR trips paid by Octopus (including Light Rail and MTR buses). In addition, the fares of Monthly Pass Extra, MTR City Saver, Tuen Mun – Nam Cheong Day Pass, Airport Express Round Trip Ticket and Airport Express Group Ticket can also be included in the monthly public transport expenses for calculation of subsidy under the Scheme. Monthly Pass Extra is encoded on Octopus and hence, the expenses on purchasing the ticket will be recorded under the Scheme automatically.
For MTR City Saver, Tuen Mun – Nam Cheong Day Pass, Airport Express Round Trip Ticket and Airport Express Group Ticket, passengers are required to go through a simple registration with the relevant tickets, the Octopus and sales receipts issued from Airport Express Customer Service Centre (only applicable to Airport Express Round Trip Ticket and Airport Express Group Ticket) at the “Designated Transport Ticket Self-registration Point” within 30 days from the date of purchase according to the registration instructions set out in the table below. Also, commuters can collect subsidy by tapping the Octopus at the “Subsidy Collection Point”. Please click here for the MTR station list of the “Designated Transport Ticket Self-registration Point” and “Subsidy Collection Point”.
To check and estimate your subsidy, click on this website and key in your Octopus number.