Two Dollars Two Discounts | Sun Yuehon: Formulate Ridership Strategies for Each District, Launch Overwhelming Publicity Campaign

The “Dual Discount Scheme” will be uniformly adjusted to “$2 and 20% off” starting next Friday (April 3). Labour and Welfare Secretary Sun Yuk-han stated on a radio program that the authorities will promote extensively and will also develop travel strategies for each district, which will be rolled out gradually.

Sun Yuk-han mentioned that she met with district councilors and care teams yesterday and received many suggestions, including how to make it easier for seniors to distinguish between the $2 fare and 20% off routes. The government will invite district councils and care teams to create community-based guides. On the first day of the adjustment, the Transport Department will activate the Emergency Incident Coordination Centre to monitor the situation, and immediate responses will be made if issues arise. Over the past year, extensive system resets have been carried out, including re-inspection of over 17,000 Octopus machines, and all testing work has now been completed.

She noted that the “Dual Discount Scheme” currently benefits 2.67 million people. As the population ages, the number of beneficiaries will only increase. The government needs to maintain the financial sustainability of the policy and believes that the new measures can significantly address the “long ride, short trip” problem.

Regarding seniors who need to take long-distance transportation, Sun emphasized that the government still subsidizes 80% of the fare, and the subsidy remains substantial.

As for the monthly limit of 240 discounted trips to be maintained next year, Sun explained that since about one-third of Hong Kong’s population benefits from it, they need time to adapt to the changes. The government also needs time to explain, so careful handling is required to ensure the smooth implementation of the “$2 and 20% off” scheme, with further steps to implement trip limits later.