The Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme’s monthly threshold will be relaxed to $200 from July 1 to December 31, the Government said today.

Noting that the local economy has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few months, the Government said it has decided to temporarily relax the monthly threshold for calculation of the subsidy from $400 to $200 to further alleviate commuters' fare burden during the pandemic situation.

Under the arrangement, the Government will provide a subsidy amounting to one-third of the actual public transport expenses in excess of $200, subject to a maximum of $400 per month for each Octopus.

Commuters can collect the enhanced subsidy from August 16.

The estimated number of beneficiaries under the scheme will increase from about 2.2 million to 3.8 million per month.

People can check their record of public transport expenses and subsidy amounts through the scheme’s website, the Octopus App or the hotline 2969 5500.