Ferry and Bus Fare Increases 2013 – Comments by db residents

20. Both increases are not justified as the ferry tickets are already the most expensive in Hong Kong and HKR has made no effort to increase revenue as proposed by the residents. With the Public Recreational Facilities, the Hotel and the Amalfi opening and the introduction of the HK$ 2 concessionary fare there are additional vast opportunities to increase ridership. In my case the resident service costs HK$ 4 for less than 1 kilometer and all I get is a standing space packed as sardines on what is operated as a franchised bus when supposed to be a resident service”

I think you should as a matter of urgency start a dialogue with TD on introducing franchised bus services for the external routes

Tung Chung and Sunny Bay bus trips amount to  ~2.77 million trips

Internal bus trips ~13.14 million trips
Which comes to the increase of revenue, if based on 9.5%,
Ferry: $14.2 million (4.41 mio x $33.8 x 9.5%)

Outbound buses: $2.3 million (2.77 mio x $9.10 x 9.5%)

Intra-community buses: $5 million (13.14 mio x $4 x 9.5%)
Totaling $21.55 million if the fares were to be increased by 9.5%.  DBR claims it loss $6 million for the year 2012.  To compensate its losses, the appropriate increase should be 2.65% (6 mio / 21.5 mio x 9.5%) providing aforementioned audit is made transparent.
The calculation, although rough and conservative, is a pretty good representation of DB's transportation picture until actual numbers are provided.  From cross checking the numbers, the accuracy is surprisingly close to the Submission to Legislative Council Panel on Transport for Meeting on 2 June, 2011 by you:
"The HKR document released by TD on 6 May, 2011, shows that, in 2010-11, the ferry carried 4.26 million passengers. This is a fall of 9.55%, a dramatic fall in ridership in just three years. This fall cannot be attributed to a simple change of preference; it can only be due to a dramatic swing in the demographic of Discovery Bay brought on by the sharp fare increase introduced in 2009."
The new $2 elderly scheme is subsidized by the government, hence it is not considered in the estimate.  However, even if included, the difference would be insignificant as those over 65 represent a small % of population at DB.
Thank you for your attention.
22. 船：在非繁忙時間，應該使用省油，省人手的小型船。用大船載少量乘客，但把管理不善

而虧損的後果推到乘客身上。只求加價，不求改進，永遠解決不了問題。最後因爲船費太高，

另更多人改坐車。而船的虧損更大，難度再加價，妄想可以有盈餘嗎。

車：無理由虧損， 希望公開數據。

23. I strongly support the idea that a business needs to profitable to run effectively and efficiently and to generate a added value. However, the argumentation used for yet another increase of the fares for busses and ferry are not sufficient.

• HKR claims the transportation business are loss making: they need to open the audited books to display and defend this argument

• Contrary to the argument by HKR, I strongly believe that the bus services are highly profitable!

• HKR’s argumentation that they loose customers to the bus and MTR services should not be matched with a fare increase but rather with increased customer service to prevent people from choosing the less expansive but also longer route to Central

• Apart from that, HKD 33 for a (for many people) daily ferry ride and return (HKD 66) is a great deal of money! The discount offered for residents is marginal and hardly recognizable. On top, with the new and governmentally subsidized ‘elderly’ tariff, I expect more passengers use the ferry.

Not 9,5 % probably

32. The bus services are poor, absolutely poor because the number of buses are insufficient, the frequency of buses is unsatisfactory, and the over-crowdy situation of the buses has often made buses unsafe. There was no checks and balances on both the bus and ferry services. The ferry fares are too expensive and fails to provide reasonable fares to residents. I strongly object to the proposed increases in the fares of both buses and ferry services.

1. 
   應合併考慮 愉景灣航運服務有限公司及愉景灣交通服務有限公司營運情況。
   
2. 
   渡輪服務使用T-card後及有時間限制，更減少了非經常乘客。
   
3. 
   渡輪票價昂貴及限制多多，居民多選擇乘巴士，至令巴士經常爆滿，巴士公司應有大量盈餘。
   
4. 
   巴士票價也昂貴，記得初期巴士是沒有企位的，後來曾加了企位，但票價並沒有下調。
   

37. Fare increases must be justified with evedence by way of financial statements to show increased costs/loss of earnings.