The government said changes to the HK$2 transport subsidy scheme will be in place sooner than expected.

Those changes were unveiled by Financial Secretary Paul Chan in his budget address in February, and officials have said it would take about 18 months to adjust Octopus machines to accommodate the new fares.

Under the plan, fares for more expensive routes will be higher than HK$2, with elderly and disabled passengers paying 20 percent of trips that cost more than HK$10.

Welfare minister Chris Sun told lawmakers on Wednesday that the changes could be implemented in about 12 months' time thanks to efforts by transport operators and the Octopus Cards Limited.

"We can now say with certainty that the HK$2, or 20 percent of fare, will be implemented in April 2026, which is five months earlier than the original estimate," he said at a special finance committee meeting on the budget.

Sun said this would mean extra savings of HK$260 million in public coffers.

He also said the move to cap the number of HK$2 subsidised trips to 240 per person each month will be in effect about two years from now.

Election Committee councillor Carmen Kan asked whether officials can implement the updated scheme even quicker.

Sun said the administration is already taking the least amount of time possible, because officials still have to manually adjust every single machine on vehicles.

For his part, Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien asked whether officials could bring in more measures – such as tougher penalties or new laws – to tackle abuse or misuse of the JoyYou Card for the elderly.

Sun said officials had already raised the penalty for people using the card and posing as someone else, adding that some suspects were taken to court.