Government HK$2 Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme

Officially the Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities — everyone just calls it the $2 Scheme — this is the single biggest reason public transport barely dents an older Hong Kong resident's wallet. Any Hong Kong resident aged 60 or above qualifies, a threshold the government lowered from 65 in February 2022; younger residents with disabilities qualify too, but only if they are certified as 100% ("severely") disabled and are already receiving either Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or a Disability Allowance under that criterion. Riding cheap isn't automatic, though — the concession only works with a specific card. Beneficiaries aged 60 and above must apply for and use a JoyYou Card, a Personalised Octopus purpose-built for the scheme; eligible younger persons with disabilities need a Personalised Octopus carrying "Persons with Disabilities" status instead. Cash doesn't work, and neither does an ordinary Elder Octopus (a separate, older elderly concession that operators run independently of this government scheme) or a standard Personalised Octopus — tap either of those and full adult fare applies. As of 3 April 2026 the fare mechanic itself changed: what used to be a flat $2 on every covered trip is now "$2 Flat Rate or 80% Off" — trips with an adult fare of $10 or below still cost exactly $2, but anything above $10 now costs 20% of the adult fare, rounded to the nearest 10 cents, a change designed to scale the subsidy with distance on longer cross-territory journeys (and it applies to interchange legs too). Coverage is broad but not universal: it spans domestic MTR services plus Light Rail and MTR Bus in the northwest New Territories (though not the Airport Express, East Rail's Lo Wu/Lok Ma Chau/Racecourse stops, or first class), the four franchised bus companies KMB, Citybus, Long Win and New Lantao (minus airport, racecourse, long-haul and tourist-oriented routes), designated ferry routes (excluding Deluxe Class), every green minibus route, all tram routes, and only the specific red minibus, kaito and residents'-service routes that have opted in and display the scheme's logo above their Octopus readers. It stacks with the separate Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme: the reduced fare a $2 Scheme rider actually pays still counts in full toward that scheme's monthly rebate calculation.