A 50-percent toll waiver for all commercial vehicles will come to effect from May 17, the inter-departmental task force on monitoring fuel supply announced on Wednesday.

All buses, goods vehicles, light buses and taxies using all government tolled tunnels and the Tsing Sha Control Area will benefit from the measure.

"The targeted temporary measure aims to alleviate the operating costs of various types of commercial vehicles, and assist drivers and operators in coping with the pressure arising from rising fuel prices, aimed at easing the operating cost arising from higher fuel prices," the task force said in a statement.

The temporary measure will last for two months until midnight on July 16.

The task force said the Transport Department has steered the toll service provider to adjust the HKeToll system to ensure smooth implementation.

"Commercial vehicle owners are not required to submit any application; they only need to pay the reduced amount as displayed in the system," it said.

It also reminded taxi passengers that they must continue to pay the statutory tolls in full during the waiver period.

Some taxi drivers that RTHK spoke to welcomed the partial toll waiver, though others felt its impact would be limited.

One driver surnamed Choi called it a "small subsidy" for the industry.

"It's useful. It's at least a small subsidy for us and it isn't a loss for passengers," he said.

"Normally, we go through the tunnel at least two or three times a day. At a few dollars per crossing, half off, that adds up to a pretty considerable amount."

But another driver surnamed Lam was less impressed. He said it was hard to predict how many times he would use government tunnels each day, and doubted the discount would significantly offset the pressure from fluctuating fuel prices.

"It would be better to just make the tunnels free," he said.

"Take me as an example...with the half-price discount, that's only 25 dollars, right? That's not even enough to buy a cup of milk tea."

Another cabbie, surnamed Lee, said the measure was "better than nothing," though he said that on some days he rarely uses the tunnels.

He added that he would rather see a discount on fuel.



Edited by Tony Sabine