The extension of the East Rail Line to Admiralty opened 3 years ago (in May 2022).

Those with a long memory will recall that this was part of the "Sha Tin to Central link" that I have written about a few times, starting back in March 2008 (Sensible changes) and, yes, I might have become slightly obsessed with the way that it was misreported (Sha Tin to Central - or maybe not and Sha Tin to Central Link misinformation).

Fortunately, we have (eventually) ended up with a good solution. 

The southern terminus of East Rail is now Admiralty, which has 8 platforms (lucky) for 4 lines (ayeeah), meaning that you can continue your journey by going east, west or south.  Most interchanges are fairly easy (if you can deal with the large crowds), and it certainly does make it more convenient to get from the New Territories East to Hong Kong Island.   The only downside is shorter trains (First Class has survived, rather to my surprise), and yes I have written about that.

There's also the new Exhibition station, which maybe not quite as convenient for the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) as you might have hoped, but obviously it's much easier than walking from Wan Chai station.  I had forgotten that it was originally planned to be an interchange with the North Island Line, which is why the platforms are on different levels, but that ain't happening any time soon.

There are also new platforms at Hung Hom, which were heavily delayed due to problems with construction.  This is an interchange with the other part of the SCL Project: the Tuen Ma line, which opened in June 2021 (see here).  For nearly a year there was a really inconvenient interchange between the old East Rail platforms and new Tuen Ma Line platforms, but now they are in the same place (albeit at different levels).

The Tuen Ma Line was previously known as the East-West line because it goes from the New Territories East (Ma On Shan / Sha Tin) to the New Territories West (Tsuen Wan, Yeun Long, Tuen Mun) via Tsim Tsa Tsui.  It's by no means a straight line and can be a bit confusing when the southbound service is heading for somewhere that is very much North West of where you are.

Seems to me that it would be helpful to announce the intermediate station (e.g. Tuen Muen via TST) where that is appropriate, as they do on the Circle Line in London.

By Hong Kong standards it's not very frequent (every 5-6 minutes off-peak) though they enhance that when there are events at the new Kai Tak stadium.  It also has two interchanges with the (KCR) East Rail, one at Tai Wai (easy for southbound connections because this section of the Tuen Ma Line has the two lines the "wrong" way round) and the new Hung Hom station.

There are more rail projects planned and under construction, the most significant being the Northern Link, which will go from the Kam Sheung Road station (on the Tuen Ma line) and a new Kwu Tung station (on the Lok Ma Chau section of East Rail).  There is also a plan for a new line from HKU through Cyberport and Aberdeen to Wong Chuk Hang, that may be started in 2027.

I see that 10 years ago (yikes) I was complaining about the North Satellite Concourse at Hong Kong airport (because the only way to get there was by buses that sometimes had to wait for planes to pass).

They did finally link it up to the main terminal (in 2022), using a bridge.  And yet...

The first problem is that the maps of Terminal 1 that you will see when you get through security don't show the North Satellite Concourse at all - on closer inspection that's because they show the lounges, and the NSC doesn't have one.  Probably because it only has 9 gates, all for the smaller A320 / A321 single aisle planes.

What a strange decision to make with map, though, given that probably 95% of passengers won't be looking for a lounge, they'll be wanting to know where to find their gate.  In case you're wondering, look for gate 12 and then you'll find the wonder bridge.

And, no, I don't want to use the terrible map on the HKIA website.  There is a decent pdf map (of course there is) here - found via this webpage which explains the changes to gate numbering, including the fact that these NSC gates used to be 501-510.  

But, hey, apparently this is great:

Passengers can enjoy the extraordinary experience of an aircraft passing beneath their feet   

The bridge is 28 metres high - quite a long way up and down again the other side.  So passengers and aircrew have to use the escalators to get there.  There is a lift but it's only available for the disabled, presumably because it's too small.

So everyone has to take their cabin luggage (including small suitcases) on these fairly steep escalators.  Which seems strange because almost everywhere else in Hong Kong (and beyond) the advice is not to do that, and to use the lift instead.  But not here, oh no.

When you get there, the facilities are not great.  The Starbucks was being renovated when I was there, and there were queues for water and the toilets.  As far as I know, you can't go back to the main concourse.

Is this all temporary?  Will it be abandoned when Terminal 2 opens?

Two stories from the Substandard about people using QR codes to get discounts on the MTR

• ‘Discounted rides’ for HK transportation are being sold online (10 March)
• Fare cheats exploit digital loopholes in MTR system (20 March)

The concept is that you use one payment platform (e.g. WeChat Pay) to enter the MTR and another (e.g. AlliPay) to leave, and rely upon not having anyone check whilst you are travelling (which in my experience never happens in standard class and is extremely rare even in First Class). 

I've never used these payment methods, but the article claims that there is a way to manually enter your entry or exit station in the app.  Which is convenient but seems very obviously open to abuse.  

• If you use an Octopus card and you managed to get into the system without it being recorded you won't be able to use the automatic gates to exit and have to go to the Customer Service Centre first for them to fix it.
• In London, you can always exit from the station with Contactless or an Oyster card but incomplete journeys are charged at the maximum fare - however, you can apply online to get a refund.

If they removed the feature in the two apps and charged for incomplete journeys (as in London) surely that would stop this abuse?   If I have understand the Alipay app (MTR Press Release) they do tell you the fare you have been charged, so people could go to the Customer Service Centre to complain and maybe get a refund.

My question here is who is enabling this, and how much money are they making out of it?  And how do they avoid being detected by the MTR?  All very strange.

One other thing I have noticed with Alipay is that it seems not to apply sectional fares on minibuses.  So at the start of the journey the fares are the same, but while the price on the Octopus reader drops as you get nearer to the destination, nothing changes on Alipay.  Not that I have ever seen anyone use them!  

It's more complex in London because there is daily capping, and TfL calculate the total spend for the day and deduct that early the next morning.  So you will only know about the "incomplete journey" charge by logging on to the website or checking in the TfL Go app the next day (though you ought to be alerted by a larger than expected payment going out from your account).  It's actually easy to request a refund but you do have to enter some details and there are some limits on how many refunds you can request each month.

Another problem in London is that if you tap in using a physical card and out using the same card on Google Pay or Apple Pay this creates two incomplete journeys!  Which are easily reconciled by TfL if you contact them.

I have always suspected that a lot of people in London either don't realize that they have been charged for an incomplete journey or never get round to claiming a refund.  Which is supported by this FOI request stating that were 40 million incomplete journeys in 2023 at a total cost of £231 million (average charge of £6.39).  Only around 42,000 requests for refunds were received - which is around 0.1%.  That's staggeringly low!  

Back in 2014, the SCMP reported on the "painfully slow process" of installing platform screen doors on what were the KCR East Rail and Ma On Shan line (now the MTR East Rail Line and Tsuen Ma Line). 

They returned to the subject in 2023 (paywall) and RTHK reported in February 2024 that work would be complete by the end of the year.  Being the year 2024, of course.

There's an update on the project here and the target completion date is now "in 2025"

The project team has overcome various challenges by learning from experience during the process, hence some of the works could be completed ahead of schedule. The progress of works is satisfactory so far.

Satisfactory, you say?  Completed ahead of schedule?

It's now April 2025, and the southbound platform at University Station has been started but there's no obvious sign of it being completed (northbound was done some time ago).   At Mong Kok East, the two main platforms are complete but not platform 1 (where southbound trains sometimes terminate in the rush hour if they still do that).

I suppose these two are a bit more difficult because the platforms are curved, but that SCMP report was 11 years and yet it's still not finished [and I haven't been to Lo Wu to check on progress there]

I previously wrote about this in January 2018 and Transit Jam reported on one suicide at Kowloon Tong last year (but work there was completed shortly afterwards) and another case happened in January 2025 at University station (The Standard).

And yes, other cities worldwide have a very long way to go to catch up with Hong Kong on this.

How it's supposed to work:

1. Passengers exit the train
2. People board the train
3. Announcement that doors are closing
4. Doors close
5. Train departs
6. Everyone is happy

What sometimes (rarely) happens

1. Announcement is made whilst people are still exiting the train
2. Doors close whilst people (me) are boarding

The problem with (1) is that it causes people who are waiting to board to try to push past the people who are exiting the train. Which obviously causes delays, but if the station staff are not checking carefully (which is my suspicion about why this is happening) they then close the doors before everyone is onboard.  Which makes me unhappy.

And, yes, it would be terrific if everyone did wait for people to exit before they try to board, but frankly the risk of the doors closing before you have boarded make this a bit more excusable.

[In case it's not clear, the MTR is generally excellent, which is why the occasional problem is noteworthy]

Since my last post, the government has announced changes to the Joy You scheme (so I was wrong):

1. Maximum of 240 journeys per person per month at the subsidised rate.  
2. Users will be charged 20% of the fare if it's over HK$10.  

The government is calling this the HK$2 flat rate cum 80 percent discount which is of course rather amusing to native English speakers (I really thought they knew that the word "cum" was problematic and had stopped using it, but there you go).

Why not just call it 2 /20 (or 2 / 20 / 240) in English and $2 / 8折 in Cantonese?  

There was a comment by someone on Facebook complaining that the 240 trips limit was unfair on people who needed to take multiple forms of transport (e.g. Ferry, Minibus, MTR and Bus) to complete their journey.  Well, yes, maybe, but I suspect that in most cases you could find a cheaper (albeit slower) way if you wanted to, and HKFP reports that this will only affect 360 people!

Overall, this seems quite a modest change that isn't going to save very much money.  The next thing to do is actually implement the change - which seems like it ought to be straightforward but local media think it might not happen until September 2026.

This HK Standard report also says that the government is studying a segmented fare system for buses:

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po revealed that the Transport Department is in discussions with bus companies and has identified over 100 bus routes in Hong Kong that could implement a segmented fare system, with further research underway. 

in Hong Kong, buses are operated by for-profit companies (and KMB/LWB and Citybus) and fares are generally higher than on the MTR.  Presumably if they do introduce sectional fares they would have to increase fares to make up for the lost income.

In London, buses are heavily subsidized by TfL (which is under local government control) with a flat fare of £1.75 (roughly HK$17), compared with £2.90 peak for the Underground / Overground in Zone 1/2 (£2.10 for journeys outside Zone 1).  Outside London, bus fares can be eye-wateringly expensive, though there is currently a price cap of £3 (on some routes) which is covered by a government subsidy.  A few cities are bringing buses under local authority control, most notably Manchester where the flat fare is now £2 (as in London, this actually allows multiple journeys within 60 minutes).

Oh, sorry, this is supposed to be about buses in Hong Kong, not the UK.  

The biggest problem remains that for passengers aged 60-64 (even after these changes), the government is paying 80% of the standard fare.  And most of those people will still be working.  At 65 the government is paying 30%, which seems more reasonable.  But it would be brave to take that benefit away from 60-64 years old.

There has been some controversy recently about the HK$2 flat fare for the elderly on public transport.  This was introduced in 2012 for people aged 65 or older, and then extended in 2022 to those aged 60 or over.

This report says that the scheme costs around HK$4 billion per year  (roughly US$500 million).  That's about 0.5% of total government expenditure.

Before this scheme was introduced, there were half-price fares for those over 65, offered by most of the various transport operators (all of which are for-profit companies).  All that was required was an “Elder Octopus” card.  There is no age (or ID) check when they are issued, but there is a penalty of HK$500 if anyone is caught using one when under age.  

When the HK$2 fare was introduced, this was available with the “Elder Octopus” card (which meant it was available to non-residents).  Then, with the extension to 60 came the personalized Joy You card, which is only for Hong Kong residents.

• The “Elder Octopus” still exists, but only gives the half-price fares without the HK$2 maximum.

Every time the JoyYou card is used the government pays the transport operators the difference between their fare for the journey and HK$2.

At this point it needs to be explained that fares on most buses and minibuses are based on the assumption that the passenger is travelling to the final destination.  So it is entirely possible that the fares for travelling the exact same journey will vary by the bus route you choose.  If one of the buses is long-distance or Cross-Harbour, the difference can be substantial. 

• For example, if you took a bus from Wan Chai to Causeway Bay the fare could be HK$24 if the final destination is Tuen Mun,  HK$10 if it is going to Chai Wan, or HK$5 if it terminates at Causeway Bay

If you have the JoyYou card it doesn’t matter which bus you choose - the government will pay the balance of the fare, whether that is HK$22 or HK$3 (if you are over 65, then the concession fare applies, so the government has less to pay).

Technically, it should be possible for passengers to swipe out when leaving the bus, as suggested here, though you have to wonder how many people would actually do it.  [Update: it seems that some KMB routes have an Octopus reader on bus stops that give a refund, so that you pay less for travelling only part of the distance]

Minibuses do have some sectional fares, available on request, but you probably wouldn't bother if you had a JoyYou card.

MTR fares are all point-to-point, so it isn't an issue.

There have been reports of fraudulent usage - one scheme involved minibuses, with a number of Elder Octopus cards being used as per HKFP:

The tip-off came from the Transport Department, who noticed there was an unusual number of senior citizens taking the minibus late at night….The government only charges such individuals HK$2 per trip and the rest of the fare is returned to minibus operators by the government.  Since the fare for the Sheung Shui-Kwun Tong route is HK$22.50 the government provided a subsidy of HK$20.50 the minibus driver would have then received his contractual share of the profits.

This report says that there were an average of 112 cases of abuse uncovered annually between 2017-2019 out of almost half a billion $2 trips taken every year: that’s 0.00001% of trips, costing the government an estimated HK$13,000 per year.  This SCMP report (paywall) says that it rose to 314 cases in 2022, and this rather confusing story says that:

The MTR Corporation imposed surcharges on approximately 9,680 individuals deemed ineligible for the fare scheme…and two cases were successfully prosecuted. One individual received a fine of approximately HK$14,000 and was required to repay HK$2,000 in underpaid fares. Another individual was convicted of two counts of false accounting, receiving a sentence of 120 hours of community service, along with a fine of around HK$5,800 and a repayment of HK$620 in underpaid fares.

Hard to believe that this is a major problem, especially since the introduction of the JoyYou card.

On the other hand, some people are complaining that the scheme isn’t generous enough:

Younger seniors fight for lower fares | The Standard

Currently, those aged 65 and above pay HK$12.60 for a trip from Sheung Shui to Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations, but those below 65 must pay the full price of HK$25.10.  JoyYou holders aged 60 to 64 traveling from Admiralty to Lo Wu pay HK$49.60 - the same as any adult passenger. But those 65 and over pay a concessionary fare of HK$24.80.  

Here’s a tip: take the MTR from Admiralty to Sheung Shui, exit the station, wait about a minute and then swipe back in and you’d pay HK$14.60 (over 65) or HK$27.10 (60-64) in total.  It's very easy because the exit is at platform level.  [Fares have increased since that story was published, but the principle is the same]

Those below 65 are also excluded from the concessionary fare for trips to the Racecourse station in Sha Tin.

A 64-year-old JoyYou Card holder and punter, Cheung, said it is unfair that he must pay the full fare of HK$ 16.60 for his weekly commute to the racecourse while his elders enjoy a HK$2 fare.

"I don't understand why they're setting the eligibility for certain concessions at 65 when they give the card to people 60 years old and above," he said.

Not sure it’s really commuting, but indeed it seems that the HK$2 fare does apply for the over 65s only, which is quite confusing.  Another tip - break your journey at Sha Tin (though here you have to go up to the concourse level and back down again), or go to Fo Tan and walk from there!

JoyYou fares don't apply on Airport Buses and there are no concessions for the elderly on the Airport Express - except for special offers for a limited time.

Will anything change?  It wouldn't be unreasonable to increase the flat fare in line with inflation.  Or change it to not apply during the morning rush hour. They could increase the minimum age, but that would seem strange so soon after lowering it to 60.  

How about negotiating with the transport companies?  They are getting extra revenue with minimal extra cost, so they could afford to pay part of the subsidy, but I can't see that happening. 

By way of comparison, London has free travel for the over 60s, except during the morning rush hour.  To apply you need to be resident in any of the 32 London Boroughs.  This is largely moving money from one part of the government to another, because Transport for London (TfL) is a public body and the train companies are effectively under government control and will soon be nationalised.

In most of the rest of England you only get free bus travel, and only from the state retirement age (currently 66, rising soon to 67), though that does apply nationwide.

Of course the fundamental issue here is that it doesn't really make sense to offer these concessions when most people can work well beyond 60, and most could afford to pay.

The previous British government did instruct TfL to start raising the minimum age up to state retirement age, but they seem to have found the money to avoid doing that.  I suspect that nothing will change with the JoyYou card either.

The Uselect chain of supermarkets, which used to sell reasonably priced products from Tesco, has closed down.

• Hong Kong supermarket chain Uselect winds down operations amid relentless retail slump

It used to be quite good, and there was a time when I could get delivery from them through Honest Bee but (unsurprisingly) they closed five years ago.

It didn't help when Tesco stopped exporting during the pandemic, and Uselect started stocking Coles products (from Australia) instead, and maybe some from Morrisons.

Last time I went looking for their branches in Tsim Sha Tsui both had closed, so this isn't a surprise.  Retail in Hong Kong isn't doing so well, and Uselect had probably never reached critical mass (plus competing with the PnS / Wellcome duopoly is hard)

Meanwhile, M&S seem to be doing well, and are expanding their food offerings.  Even Sha Tin has two branches, a small (food only) one next to the MTR station and a bigger one at the far end of New Town Plaza III.  Their prices are kinda OK for Hong Kong, though almost all the "fresh" meat and fish has actually been frozen and defrosted, presumably so they can ship it more cheaply.

I stopped reading the SCMP years ago, but their letter column remains a delight

Adjust traffic lights to suit pedestrians’ needs

I refer to the letter, “Stricter speed limits for pedestrian safety” (February 1). I fully agree with the suggestions in the letter. On one specific point, referring to elderly pedestrians, your correspondent writes, “Many are scared stiff about being penalised for neglecting the traffic lights; they face a fine of HK$2,000 even when there is no incoming traffic”. This is a problem the Transport Department fails to acknowledge or address.

Very frequently, the time phase of traffic lights does not seem to be optimised and adjusted to suit current traffic conditions. This results in long periods of time during which a section of road might have little or no traffic but crowds of pedestrians are bunched up together on far-too-narrow pavements, unable even to walk along the pavement, let alone cross the road. It is extremely frustrating to wait for more than one or two minutes to cross a road when there is absolutely zero motor traffic.

This failure to account for pedestrian considerations needs urgent improvement. Traffic light phases at busy junctions should be constantly monitored and adjusted to facilitate pedestrian movements more readily when there is light traffic. This could be done by the central control room, where crossings are camera monitored. Artificial intelligence technology could also be used to adjust traffic light phases affording greater priority to pedestrians.

There is another possible feature that could be used in remote and less busy light-controlled crossings. This system is used extensively in the United Kingdom and Europe. The lights are normally kept on green in favour of vehicular traffic, but when a pedestrian presses a button at the crossing, the traffic lights are almost immediately switched in favour of the pedestrian, allowing them just enough time to cross the road before changing back in favour of vehicles.

P.A. Crush, Discovery Bay

I think it might blow PA Crush's mind, but Hong Kong already has several of these pedestrian-controlled crossings, as he would know if he had read Press the Button and Wait from here nearly 20 years ago.

The problem is that most people seem to be unaware of the magic that is available if only they would press the button.  They will stand there patiently waiting for the lights to change, and wait and wait. 

Most crossings are 100% automatic and they also have a button, but that is only to make a sound when it is time to cross.  So it is possibly a little confusing.

A little.

I was walking through a shopping mall on Sunday afternoon and the big screen was showing football.

Hong Kong is back back back.  Inter Miami CF are in town.  The game is a sell-out. The government is delighted, and have grand plans to show Lionel Messi around the city.  Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu will be at the game to meet Messi.

We are told that Messi is guaranteed to play at least 45 minutes. 

Unless he is injured. 

And what are the chances that a 36 year-old footballer would miss a pre-season friendly due to injury?  No need to worry about that.

Except that...Messi turns out to be injured.  Oh no.  And Luis Suarez spends the game standing on the touchline.  

Never mind, lots of other footballers are playing for Miami.  There are goals, scored by Robert Taylor, Lawson Sunderland, Leonardo Campana and Ryan Sailor.  No, me neither.

After the game, naughty old Leo runs away and avoids shaking the hand of Lee Ka-chiu.  He also declines to be shown around the city.

A few days later, Messi and Miami are in Toyko for another pre-season friendly.  It's not a sell-out, the government is not involved, and Suarez plays 75 minutes and Messi manages 30 minutes.

I've never gone to a game to watch just one player, though I did take a small person to the 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy (in Hong Kong), and the presence of David James was very exciting for him (especially when he saved two penalties).  

But, of course, that tournament wasn't promoted almost entirely on the back of one player.

...who is 36 years old.

...and who has been on a world tour, traveling to El Salvador, Dallas, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Tokyo playing meaningless matches.

If I had paid all that money for a ticket based on a promise that Messi would play, I think I would want at least a partial refund.  However, it seems that the organizers didn't have any real guarantee that Messi would play and so they will not be getting any money back.

Certainly the government is not happy, as per the SCMP

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said Hongkongers would be “baffled by this”, and said the city’s residents deserved “a reasonable explanation”.

“The coach of Inter Miami said Messi could not play in Hong Kong because of an injury, but he looked fine in the match in Japan, and was running around for a decent amount of time,” the bureau said.

But real football fans "hating" Messi for not playing?  Don't think so.

Sad to hear of the death of Ho Kwok Wing, an Australian who came to Hong Kong many years ago and became the most famous gweilo actor on TV.  This follows the death of his wife a few months ago.

I remember that he used to have a blog writing about his life in Hong Kong, some of which is available on the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine

Well, Hong Kong has finally abandoned the requirement to wear masks. 

You may remember that people in Hong Kong started wearing masks back in January 2020, though initially the government was absolutely not in favour of this (having made it illegal a few months ago during that thing we don't talk about anymore).

It was only in July 2020 that it was made compulsory everywhere indoors, and then within a few days it applied outdoors as well.  This was when the government also announced a total ban on eating in restaurants  for 7 days - which was swiftly abandoned. 

The rules for restaurants have changed many times over the last three years.  At one time we had the bizarre spectacle of families spread across two or three tables (because of the maximum of two per table), and tables split in two with a glass (or perspex) screen so that larger groups could be accommodated without breaking the rules.  There have been a lot of changes since then, and according to this list the maximum number of people per table was increased to 12 in October 2022, and of course the LeaveHomeSafe QR code scanning requirement ended in December.  

But those mask rules have remained in place for more than two and a half years, even after Mainland China abandoned them, with only one concession (no need to wear one when taking exercise).  

You might have expected that everyone would stop wearing masks when the restrictions ended. 

But, no, the vast majority of people are still wearing masks on public transport and in shops and shopping centres.  

Even outdoors, a lot of people are wearing them.

Probably there is a certain amount of peer pressure that encourages people to wear them rather than being the odd one out.  Maybe that will gradually change, but it seems that people are quite comfortable wearing masks in public. 

Which begs the question: was it really necessary to have laws to make them compulsory everywhere  for everybody for nearly 1,000 days?

I have previously written about Wrong MTR station names and the Hong Kong Free Press has an interesting article on a similar theme

Foreign influence Part 1: Lost in translation

[..] Mong Kok is another prime example. The former coastal region was named after the overgrown silvergrass found in the area 芒角 mong⁴ gok³, (‘corner of silvergrass’).

When the government reclaimed the bay and developed the area in the early 1900s, the Chinese name was changed to 旺角(wong⁶ gok³) which means “Prosperity Point.”

The English name was never updated.

I remember being told that 芒角 meant "busy" place, but that seems to be another Chinese character 忙with the same Pinyin romanization, which is an understandable error for anyone who didn't check a 19th Century map.  

The author of the HKFP piece seems to be Chinese, so predictably makes a better job of this than I did!

The full Tuen Ma line will open on June 27.  SCMP predictably came up with a strange headline: Hong Kong MTR: key section of costly Sha Tin-Central link to open by June 27 after repeated delays

A key stretch of the long-overdue Sha Tin to Central link, Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project, will fully open on June 27 after repeated delays and cost overruns, the city’s transport minister has said, while pledging the government will learn lessons from the saga.

Long overdue, yes, but the section of track (from Kai Tak to Hung Hom) actually connects Tuen Mun and Ma On Shan, not Sha Tin and Central.  I may have mentioned this a few times over several years.

RTHK got it right with its headline: MTR's Tuen Ma Line to get going on June 27 (yes, the name comes from the districts at the two ends), whilst HKFP had a rather oblique headline: Two new MTR stations to open next month, forming Hong Kong’s longest metro line.  I think the word you may be looking for is “completing”.  Or, more accurately, joining the Ma On Sha Line with West Rail.

I still think this is not a great name - at one stage there was a suggestion that it would be the East-West line, because it goes from the Eastern New Territories to the Western New Territories (and for part of it you’d only have to add a few letters at the start of the name, so that would save money).  It would avoid confusion with the Tsuen Wan line.  Or is that just me?

Hong Kong has one of the best COVID vaccines (Comirnaty from BioNTech in Germany) freely available. 

Or if an mRNA vaccine with 91.3% efficacy isn’t to your liking, you’re in luck because the Sinovac vaccine, with an efficacy rate of just 50.7% is also available. 

Political theatre is never far away and all true patriots are choosing the vaccine from the PRC (though there’s another, more practical reason - if you need to travel to the PRC). 

Both vaccines offer remarkably good protection against severe disease and death, and side effects are minimal, but the vaccination centres are not operating anywhere close to capacity.

There are many reasons why people are not choosing to get vaccinated.

• Is it because Hong Kong has had less than 12,000 cases in total and only 210 deaths? 
• Probably yes.  The risk of getting COVID here is very low
• Singapore has had more cases than Hong Kong (but far less than many places) and more than 80% are willing to take the vaccine and they are way ahead on the number of jabs.
• Could it because the media here report on deaths of people who have had the vaccine?
• That certainly doesn’t help. 
• Maybe it’s because many medical professionals don’t seem keen on the vaccines. 
• I have to say that I find this fairly shocking
• Clearly it can’t be because people don’t trust the government. 
• We all know that the National Security Law is a good thing and those pesky demonstrators should all be in prison.  Glad we’ve cleared that up.

Here’s a Twitter thread with a link to an article with more information:

Or there’s this article from HKFP: Don’t trust the science or don’t trust the gov’t? Why many Hongkongers are shunning Covid vaccination.

Meanwhile, the government has been applying a super abundance of caution in quarantining so-called “close contacts” and almost everyone arriving in Hong Kong.

The definition of “close contact” was extended to everyone living in the apartment blocks of variant cases, because, well, just because.  This led to thousands of people being sent to one of the government camps for 21 days. 

They did back down on this after numerous complaints and no actual cases being detected.  Oh, and some dodgy food.  They also reduced the number of days quarantine for anyone who is fully vaccinated.  But there are still quite a lot of people being sent into quarantine.

There has been a minor relaxation for quarantine of arrivals.  Recently, the UK was moved from group A2 to B, meaning that if you are fully vaccinated you “only” have to stay for 2 weeks in one of the approved hotels.  Australia and New Zealand are currently in the lowest group (14 or 7 days) but this list keeps being reviewed so you can never be certain.

Last year the default was home quarantine with electronic monitoring:  they gave you a bracelet to wear and you had to install an app on your mobile phone.  This option was withdrawn for the UK in October, and for almost everywhere else in late December, so you have to pay to stay in a hotel room with no fresh air (and lousy food in many cases).  There is a choice of hotels, but many are fully booked, particularly in the coming months when students will be returning from studying overseas.

Apparently the Joint Scientific Committee recommended that home quarantine should be re-introduced, but this was vetoed by the CHP.

Some interesting comments from Ben Cowling (Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong), who proposes that the government should:

set a timeline to end quarantines-on-arrival, say, after September. That means Covid-19 will find its way back into the community sooner or later — and if that happens without vaccine coverage it means more restrictions and social distancing, except for those who are vaccinated. And at the same time, we immediately allow vaccinated people to skip quarantine.

Seems logical enough.