Remarks by SEE at media session
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Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, at a media session after attending the launch event for the Green Transformation Roadmap of Public Buses and Taxis today (December 10):
Reporter: First, given the high cost of operating electric buses and taxis, how to ensure the incentive is attractive enough for the trade? I am worried that such a transformation will lead to fare hike as well. And the second question, how about other types of green transportation, for example hydrogen buses? Are there any plans on that?
Secretary for Environment and Ecology: Today we announced the Green Transformation Roadmap of Public Buses and Taxis. In the past years, we observed that the prices of electric vehicles, including buses as well as those vehicles suitable for use as taxis, have been coming down quite quickly. Recently we noticed that certain subsidy, which we believe is not excessive, actually can enable bus companies and taxi owners to switch to electric. That’s why we produce our proposal this time. We are looking to the future. Because the prices are coming down very quickly, we believe very soon electric vehicles will be very competitive against the conventional vehicles, and therefore the need for further subsidy in future will diminish.
I believe the real driving force for electric vehicles will be their convenience in Hong Kong as well as their reliability and drivability, and experience of the drivers. People who are using electric vehicles can tell you, it’s a very good experience to drive electric vehicles as they are more convenient, more reliable and also the fuel cost is much cheaper than using conventional fuel. I believe these are the driving forces, which will be driving people to use electric vehicles in future.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)