Many lawmakers on Thursday voiced support for an increase in tram fares, with Hong Kong Tramways saying it needs the rises to stay afloat.

The company hopes to put up fares by 30 cents to HK$3.30 for over 12s, by 10 cents to HK$1.60 for children aged 3 to 11, and by 20 cents to HK$1.50 for senior citizens.

Managing director Paul Tirvaudey told lawmakers at a transport panel meeting that the firm does not expect passenger numbers to return to pre-Covid levels because of structural changes to the population and economic activities on Hong Kong Island.

“Hong Kong Tramways is at the same time very resilient, as it has been profitable in 120 years of existence. But at the same time, it is also still fragile with several critical risks which if not addressed properly, could threaten its long term viability,” he said.

“So our ambition at the moment is to keep consolidating Hong Kong Tramways in the long term, for it to contribute even more to the attractiveness of Hong Kong and to the quality of life of its residents.”

Legislator Gary Zhang, who supported the fare increase proposal, asked if the company could work on "smart driving", to improve efficiency.

Tirvaudey said the company has been looking into this, for example by installing more cameras on trams for investigations and training.

"Regarding the most advanced technologies, we had some tests. However, the difficulty would be to extend, to generalise these kind of technologies to 165 trams,” he said.

“Our fleet is quite large, and in terms of cost efficiency, it could still be very expensive compared to the benefits. So the return on investment has not been proven at the moment, but this is something that we closely monitor.”