Financial Secretary Paul Chan announces the 2025-2026 Budget today (Feb. 26).
Chan announces enhancements of two transport subsidy schemes that incur relatively high expenditure with a rapid growth rate, namely the Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities (i.e. the $2 Scheme) and the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme (PTFSS).
On the basis that the targeted beneficiaries remain unchanged, the government will change the concessionary fare to "$2 flat rate cum 80 percent discount", which means that beneficiaries will continue to pay HK$2 for trips with fare below or equal to HK$10. For trips with fare above HK$10, the beneficiaries will have to pay the amount of full fare after 80 percent discount. Furthermore, the number of concessionary trips will also be limited to 240 per month. This fine-tuned proposal preserves the policy intent while striking a balance between enhancing the sustainability of the scheme and minimizing the impacts to the beneficiaries; and
From June 2025 onwards, the threshold of monthly public transport expenses incurred for receiving the subsidy under the Scheme will be raised from HK$400 to HK$500. The government will continue to provide a subsidy amounting to one-third of the expenses in excess of HK$500, and the prevailing subsidy cap at HK$400 per month will remain unchanged.
The relevant policy bureaux will announce the details later, he said.
He pointed out that upon implementation of the refined arrangements, the government is expected to save HK$6.2 billion in the coming five years.
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