Increased bus fares
Font size:
As I expect the next day's business news to include rising food costs, record oil price hikes and recession fears, I also feel the effects in a more visible and tangible way. Everytime I travel to work from home via bus 2A or 2, bus fares have increased from HK$3.90 to HK$4.10. And if I take the "express bus" M722 from Quarry Bay to Central or vice versa, it used to be HK$6.10 but now it is HK$6.50.
Good thing the old reliable tram retained its fares and I haven't heard of any upcoming fare hike so far. If there is such one, normally within 20-30 cents, it's not just a matter of higher fare but also a matter of more inconvenience knowing that a 2-dollar coin is no longer enough and I have to dig deeper into the corners of my coin purse for that little coin. It's currently what's going on for Star Ferry. Bus or ferry fares are often a combination of coings and odd cents. Only long haul buses like airport buses and Hongkong Tramway charge fares with no odd cents.
All these increases were mainly because of the high cost of oil. If not for the convenience brought by Octopus cards, I think more people will pick 10 or 20 cents on the ground because they'd be more useful.
We are all concerned about global warming and the effects of overuse of carbon-based fuels. It's impossible to stop or even minimize the use of these sources of energy because they fuel the economy. But I think one of the indirect solutions to global warming has been the steadily increasing price of oil. With prices at record levels, the once mighty SUVs were rendered to submission as owners preferred to ground them. Manufacturers were forced to halt production amid declining demand and soaring oil price. In effect, especially in the US, there may be less cars on the road. If that's not the case, the surge in use of more environmentally friendly hybrid cars may be observed.
Problem: global warming caused by fossil fuels
Solution: increase the price of fuels
I think this will be a good topic for debate.
Good thing the old reliable tram retained its fares and I haven't heard of any upcoming fare hike so far. If there is such one, normally within 20-30 cents, it's not just a matter of higher fare but also a matter of more inconvenience knowing that a 2-dollar coin is no longer enough and I have to dig deeper into the corners of my coin purse for that little coin. It's currently what's going on for Star Ferry. Bus or ferry fares are often a combination of coings and odd cents. Only long haul buses like airport buses and Hongkong Tramway charge fares with no odd cents.
All these increases were mainly because of the high cost of oil. If not for the convenience brought by Octopus cards, I think more people will pick 10 or 20 cents on the ground because they'd be more useful.
We are all concerned about global warming and the effects of overuse of carbon-based fuels. It's impossible to stop or even minimize the use of these sources of energy because they fuel the economy. But I think one of the indirect solutions to global warming has been the steadily increasing price of oil. With prices at record levels, the once mighty SUVs were rendered to submission as owners preferred to ground them. Manufacturers were forced to halt production amid declining demand and soaring oil price. In effect, especially in the US, there may be less cars on the road. If that's not the case, the surge in use of more environmentally friendly hybrid cars may be observed.
Problem: global warming caused by fossil fuels
Solution: increase the price of fuels
I think this will be a good topic for debate.
Related Links: Hong Kong Property, Rent Buy Apartment
Add to:
del.icio.us |
Digg
del.icio.us |
Digg
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain textRate this article
Comments (0 posted):
Post your comment