Taking Public Transit in HK will be Safer...

Soon there won't be so many phones in cars

New year, new regulations.

People who ride buses in Hong Kong will have to buckle up from January 25 or face a fine of up to HK$5,000 and three months in jail.

This regulation isn't just on large buses, but also mini buses, school buses, and anyone sitting in vehicles delivering goods.

This regulation will be hard to enforce at first, and passengers won't be used to the idea of buckling up on a bus.

Also happening on January 25 is a regulation requiring all drivers to limit having a maximum of two electronic devices -- smartphones or tablets -- while behind the wheel.

The screens must not be bigger than 19cm in size and cannot obstruct the driver's view of the road or mirrors.

Any driver who violates these requirements will be fined a maximum of HK$2,000.

Gone will be those taxi drivers with several phones all over their dashboard... 

Someone taking all their toys to work everyday

A friend used to take snaps of taxi dashboards, but perhaps there should be a crackdown on decorations?

Dramatic Dinnertime Inferno

The fire caused the crane to collapse and fall onto the street

Just as we were sitting down to dinner at home tonight, around 6.30pm, I heard four big booms, explosions. Soon after I could hear sirens.

I went out the door to see other neighbours walking over to see what was going on. We went to Dunbar Street and could see a giant plume of smoke. As we walked towards it, we could see large, angry flames. Even though we were blocks away I could feel the heat already.

Smoke smouldering on the roof

It looked like it was coming from the construction site where a multi-storey seniors' home was being built, and it was completely engulfed in flames.

Many people continued to make their way closer to 41st Avenue, but a South Asian man walking towards us said the embers were so hot it was hard for him to breathe and told us to stay away.

I took a few pictures and then went back home and noticed some black chunks on our lawn -- they were blackened embers that had flown from that fire to our place several blocks away.

After eating a bit of dinner I could hear shouts outside and went out again. This time it was our neighbour's roof that was smouldering! The family of three, including their adult son were outside. The wife having a video call with relatives and telling them that someone knocked on their house to tell them their roof was on fire, while the son had his phone glued to his ear, talking to his friends.

A firetruck was already there, with firefighters suited up. They got their ladder out and climbed up to the roof with a hose to put the fire out. One of the fire officials advised us to check our properties to see if anything was smouldering and I looked over our roof twice to make sure. While there was no smoke, there were lots of black chunks of burnt out embers lying on the ground and bits of white material too.

Burnt out embers 

One neighbour said a construction crane melted where the massive fire was and on X (formerly Twitter) I found the footage -- the crane collapsed from the heat and fell across the street onto a house, while burning embers caused a house to catch on fire as well.

The crane falling on the street had taken down trolley bus wires and electricity wires, causing a power outage in the area. 

Later in the evening we drove by trying to get a look, but the area was still blocked off. 

As far as we know there were no deaths or injuries, though firefighters suffered minor ones.

Thank goodness everyone is safe and accounted for. A lot of drama in the neighbourhood this evening!

It wasn't the only burning inferno -- another building in east Vancouver was also on fire. An abandoned apartment building at 414 East 10th Avenue was in flames -- a year after fire had displaced 70 people.

The Ongoing Challenges Downtown and Chinatown

Unusual to see a blue lion on display

Yesterday and today was the 22nd Chinatown Festival, with a mix of performances, food trucks, painting, calligraphy and Asian-related products out in 26-degree heat.

I got there this afternoon by bus and the ride was fine until we got downtown at the stop for Cordova and Homer when a disheveled passenger with mental issues had an argument with the bus driver over the route he was taking.

Giant mahjong, anyone?

The passenger didn't understand the route was correct and that it would eventually get to Hastings and Renfrew, but kept claiming the driver was going the wrong way. 

Thankfully the driver kept his cool and patiently waited for the man to collect his belongings and get off the bus, while other passengers murmured for him to stop wasting others' time. Luckily there was no incident, but there was the potential something could have happened. 

After getting off the bus at the next stop, Cordova and Carrall, I had to navigate blocks of homeless people and their belongings, and the putrid smells of urine and old sweat to get to a contrasting bright and cheery area of Chinatown. People were there to have a good time and police officers were also there to keep the peace.

A topless homeless man was hanging out on a grassy area until two officers came up to him and asked him to put on a shirt and move along. While he didn't provoke anyone, it was discomforting to see him there.

The Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association is trying hard to encourage people to come to the area to patronise shops and restaurants, but it's hard when there are drug addicts and homeless people wandering about, making people feel unsafe.

People curious about rice whisky

Wandering around the small bazaar was trouble-free after that. I visited the stalls of entrepreneurs I had written about before and was pleased to see they had a steady stream of customers. One sells various chilli oils made with local duck oil; another makes rice whisky as well as other products like ginger wine, honey wine and rice wine. 

While it was good to see a decent crowd of people there, interested in seeing traditional Chinese culture demonstrations and try some food and drinks, these festivals are only twice a year. But there is no definitive solution to the problems in the downtown east side and Chinatown, which is why they continue to fester and accumulate into bigger issues that cost more money and effort to solve... 

Convenient Ride with a Dose of Attitude

Convenient but a mean bus driver didn't make it a fun ride

Yesterday I made a one-day trip to Seattle to see a friend from Hong Kong visiting her brother.

To get there economically without driving, I took the bus down. When I was a kid, we took the Greyhound bus, but these days it's called Flixbus and my experience on it was mixed.

While the bus departure time was 9.15am from Pacific Central Station, the fine print warned passengers to board 15 minutes beforehand, which meant getting on the bus at 9am. So I made sure I arrived early, at 8.45am to be precise.

The Flixbus driver wore black and a newsboy cap and was in a sour mood. He didn't have to be like that. Instead he barked orders at people, particularly those with suitcases because they had to be placed in different compartments according to where they were getting off. 

Flixbus tickets are priced according to demand, and you can buy the seat next to you to ensure a more personal space. However, this particular bus did not have a phone charger nor wifi; yesterday morning the electricity was down in our house and so my phone battery was already at under 70 percent.

The bus driver pulled out of the parking lot at 9.15am, when some people started banging on the door. It was a family that had just arrived with suitcases in tow but the driver refused to stop and shouted at them repeatedly to stand back from the bus. English was not their first language. He was not in the mood to stop and open the doors as well as the cargo compartments to include them on the bus and drove away, muttering they were late.

Then he had the gall to put on his nice voice over the microphone to welcome passengers on the bus and gave some strict house rules: Sit in your assigned seat, no wifi today, no smoking or vaping in the bus, wear headphones if you are using your phone.

In 50 minutes we arrived at the border crossing at Blaine. It took him a while to get the customs officers ready for us. A short Asian woman rushed to the front to get off the bus. But when she stood in line waiting to be processed she saw no fruits allowed in and took out two apples from her bag. And then she read no nuts either and pulled out a box of nuts that was wrapped in a plastic bag. What else was she carrying?

Everyone else who had suitcases had to drag them out from the bus and bring them into the customs area. As people were getting back on the bus, one young woman realised she had left her passport behind. The entire family was ordered off the bus and to bring their suitcases in again to be questioned. The bus driver was less than pleased and expressed this loudly. Another woman passenger tried to console him by saying it was not his fault, but that wasn't the answer he was looking for.

When the family finally got back on the bus, the bus driver said we were six minutes behind schedule. Six minutes! And in fact by the time we arrived at my stop at the University of Washington, we were perhaps one or two minutes behind schedule. I was so relieved to get off the bus.

He again barked at people who were waiting there to get on...

My return trip experience was completely different. Thinking I had to be there 15 minutes ahead of time again, I made sure I returned to the same stop early. But a woman sitting on the steps told me the bus was one hour behind schedule with no explanation. So I rushed to the nearest Starbucks to get a sandwich (my dinner).

Each time a bus arrived we went over to check if it was ours or not. They were driven by women and they were nice to passengers. One even retrieved a lost phone and the young man was so grateful. 

Finally our bus arrived at 8.23pm, and a cheerful driver came out. He didn't explain why they were late, but was easy going and relaxed. When we got on board, he also laid out the house rules, and I was pleased to find a phone charger though the wifi didn't work either. 

There wasn't too much traffic on the highway and we made good time to Bellingham and then to the border. This time we were only at customs for half an hour and that helped us get back to Vancouver by 11.36pm, just a few minutes shy of the original schedule. 

So I finished the trip with a good experience, but I can't shake the demeanor of the first driver. Why did he have to be so rude? I understand driving from Vancouver to Portland in one day is stressful, but we are all anxious too. I wondered what happened to that family that missed the ride in the morning... and what would have happened if we had a different driver...

HK Taxis Still Attacking Popular Uber

When will the government finally decide on Uber in the city?

It is really quite amazing that the Hong Kong government STILL has not resolved the issue of having ride-hailing apps in the city ever since Uber entered the market in 2014.

How can it be that the so-called "world's international city" has made ride-hailing services like Uber illegal?

Residents prefer taking Uber over taxis

As a number of people take Uber, they like the service because the vehicles are clean, the drivers are courteous and get them from point A to point B without the smell of cigarettes, listening to taxi drivers' rants and uncomfortable seats. Oh and they have seatbelts that work too.

Everyone is also made accountable -- the customer can rate the driver and vice versa. And the rides are paid via credit cards. Only a few Hong Kong taxis are accepting Octopus cards...

When it comes to taxis, there is no outlet to complain effectively and in a timely manner. Nor is there any kind of punishment let alone motivation for taxi drivers to improve their behavour and the condition of their vehicles.

The biggest complaints of taxis are refusing to take a potential customer, and overcharging; and why is it that they all seem to be unavailable at 4pm?

And yet the authorities seem to be at the mercy of the taxi industry. Recently, some taxi drivers have posed as Uber customers and instructing them to drop them off where the police are to get the ride-hailing drivers into trouble.

The public finds this tactic reprehensible and more annoyed with taxi drivers in general, and yet the government has not stopped them, or found a viable solution.

Taxi drivers worry about value of licenses

For taxi drivers it boils down to how much they had to shell out to buy a taxi license, which is now valued at HK$3 million (US$384,490); there are concerns that legalising Uber would devalue the taxi license.

Some say there is enough room for everyone to co-exist, while others say the government is reluctant to affect the value of the taxi licenses. Why is it that a taxi license has become an investment commodity? And we're in 2024, taxis do not have the monopoly when it comes to getting around, with the MTR, bus, tram, Star Ferry and now Uber.

The other issue is that the government officials who need to decide on this issue have not taken either mode of transport -- they have their own chauffeured cars. If they have experienced what it's like to take a taxi and an Uber first hand, then they will see why people prefer the latter over the former...

Over 4K People Abusing Elderly Fare Transport Scheme

People 60 and over can ride public transport for HK$2

One of the perks of being a senior in Hong Kong is that taking public transportation is much cheaper. When people 60 years old and over take the MTR, bus, and ferry, it costs HK$2 (US$0.26) per ride. 

Naturally it's not surprising to see more elderly people riding 650 routes for buses and ferries, as well as the MTR railway network.

However, the authorities have found that over the past eight months, 4,260 rail passengers were fined for misusing the HK$2 fare concession scheme. 

The government has also found that over the last five years, 1,419 suspected cases of abuse of the scheme were uncovered during monitoring of buses, MTR, ferries, minibuses, trams and even buses to transport residents to and from their apartment blocks.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han even mentioned one passenger who was fined HK$14,000 (US$1,800) and had to pay around HK$2,000 in unpaid fares.

He said the Transport Department had asked operators to increase ticket checks and passenger identity verification, as well as strictly enforce penalties.

This is hard for frontline workers to enforce when there are lots of people getting on a bus or ferry, and also what can they do if someone doesn't pay up? 

The scheme costs the government around HK$6 billion in terms of reimbursement of costs to the transportation companies.

In order to make up for the shortfall, lawmaker Peter Koon Ho-ming suggests doubling the concession fare to HK$4 to keep the scheme sustainable. 

"Transportation fares have gone up by around 30 percent since the HK$2 scheme was rolled out. Is it feasible that we keep the concessionary fare at HK$2 and don't increase it? I think we should be more realistic when looking at this," he said.

Koon is the reverend who helped Chan Tong-kai who allegedly murdered his girlfriend in Taiwan and set off the anti-extradition protests in 2019...

Another lawmaker, Chan Siu-hung, suggested placing restrictions on the scheme, such as limiting the number of trips a person could make.

"Whatever it is going to be -- be it a fare discount, a limit on the number of rides or on the fare -- I hope the original purpose of the policy can be maintained, which is to encourage the elderly to go out more," Chan said.

HK Police to Patrol Buses

Starting next week officers will board buses to prevent crime

The Hong Kong Police are flexing their muscles with a new trial to have officers on buses to catch any nefarious activities on public transport ahead of the District Council elections next month.

Officers will get on buses in the Kowloon West district free of charge, stand in the wheelchair area and monitor what's going on.

"They will board buses at different stops to patrol them, paying attention to passengers and identifying any suspicious objects," said a source familiar with the police operation.

Not many crimes are committed on buses

"If necessary, officers may ask the bus driver to pull over and request the person in question to leave the vehicle for further investigation," he added.

The officers will carry standard equipment such as firearms, a retractable baton and a body camera, as well as a mobile phone that can scan identity cards. Police officers will be deployed from divisions such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Hung Hom and Kowloon City.

"The objective of extending police presence to public buses is to deter criminal activity and respond promptly to any incidents that may occur," the source said.

However the person did admit not many criminal cases happen on buses, but that there had been cases of bus drivers facing abuse from passengers, though it wasn't too serious. They also won't board crowded buses, or during rush hour.

In a video posted on the Facebook page of the Mong Kok police district, an officer says: "In addition to street patrols, police will soon conduct bus patrols. The objective is to prevent crimes, maintain public order, and ensure public safety."

It is hoped police presence will deter crime

The video goes on to say: "If you see police officers on the bus, please don't be surprised."

Thanks for the warning.

But why bother patrolling buses when the crime rate is low on them? Seems a bit overboard, or a make-work project.

How about the officers do an exchange and come to Vancouver to patrol the buses here? There are many passengers who just walk on and don't even pay the bus fare. There are many incidents of people hurling abuses at others, or even assault passengers and bus drivers!

Seem to make more sense for the Hong Kong Police to conduct their trial here and make a real difference in public transit safety...

Costs More to Get Around in HK

Star Ferry fares are increasing by up to 56 percent in April

Inflation is hitting Hongkongers hard with the cost of food and necessities like electricity (up 5 percent), and now public transportation fares are going up. Way up.

The Star Ferry, which has been struggling for years, will raise its passenger fares by a whopping 56 percent. From April 3, The 125-year-old ferry operator will charge HK$5 on weekdays, up from HK$3.20, and on weekends HK$6.50, from HK$4.20, a 55 percent jump.

Bus companies asking government to raise fares

In its application to the government to raise fares, the Star Ferry explained it had suffered HK$85 million in losses since 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and owes HK$72 million to banks.

However, the reality is that the Star Ferry has been losing money since 2018, with fewer tourists especially in the second half of 2019 onward.

Now bus companies want to increase their fares too, by up to 50 percent. The bus companies, like KMB, Citybus, New World First Bus, and New Lantao Bus say they need to jack up fares because of higher operating costs and falling passenger numbers because of the pandemic.

Even tram fares have gone up 15.4 percent, where an adult fare is now HK$3, and taxi rides are up 13.8 percent.

Tram fares have gone up 13.4 percent

How seniors on their savings are going to survive is just going to lead to many more falling through the cracks... and now with civil societies forced to disband following the implementation of the national security law, there will be no one in these elderly people's corner to advocate for them...