Hong Kong authorities approve the city's bus companies to increase fares by up to 7.5% from next year, January

Hong Kong authorities have approved the city's bus companies proposal to increase fares by up to 7.5 per cent, commencing next month, the reports said.

According to the sources, the top decision-making body in the city approved the proposal to increase the franchised bus fare on Tuesday.

Therefore, as of January 5 next year, Citybus can raise their fares by 7.5 per cent, while New Lantao Bus and KMB can increase their fares by 6.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively.

Earlier this year, three bus companies applied to raise the transport fares. Citybus sought to increase its fares by up to nearly 9.5 per cent, while KMB and New Lantao Bus each sought a 6.5 per cent increase, despite the latter two reporting profits for last year.

The city's bus companies seeking fare increment had raised concerns over the affordability of bus services by the people as the economy is still slowly recovering and despite the recorded profits of HK$2.9 million and HK$20.2 million last year after the tax by the New Lantao Bus and KMB bus respectively compared to 2022 their losses.

Previously, KMB increased its fare in June 2023 by 3.9 per cent, while Citybus also sought a HK$2 fare increase for all its routes in 2022.

However, authorities only accepted these bus companies to increase prices by 4.9 per cent on average, the rate that commenced last year, June.

香港當局批准該市巴士公司從明年1月起將票價提高最多7.5%

報導稱，香港當局已批准該市巴士公司的提議，從下個月開始將票價提高最多 7.5%。

消息人士透露，該市最高決策機構週二批准了提高專營巴士票價的建議。

因此，由明年1月5日起，城巴可加價7.5%，新大嶼山巴士及九巴可分別加價6.5%及4.3%。

今年早些時候，3家巴士公司申請提高交通票價。 城巴尋求加價近9.5%，而九巴和新大嶼山巴士則各自尋求加價6.5%，儘管後兩家公司去年報告盈利。

儘管新大嶼山巴士去年的稅後利潤分別為290萬港元和2,020萬港元，但在經濟仍在緩慢復甦的情況下，尋求加價的巴士公司對市民對巴士服務的負擔能力表示擔憂和九巴巴士分別與2022 年相比其損失。

此前，九巴於2023年6月加價3.9元，而城巴亦尋求在2022年將所有路線加價2港元。

然而，當局只接受這些巴士公司平均漲價 4.9%，這一漲幅是從去年 6 月開始的。