政壇：睇社論學英文：交通政策一團糟 撥亂反正此其時

社會愈來愈政治化，國民教育及新界東北發展計劃均引起極大爭議，新政府在動輒得咎之下，只能聚焦民生議題，盡快做出成績。繼早前推出十大民生措施後，當局又將檢討港鐵可加可減機制放上議事日程。新票價機制將全面考慮社會意見，不排除參考新加坡的做法，對港鐵營運增設懲罰機制，一旦出現大型事故，即要求港鐵付罰款或回饋乘客。

追本溯源，票價可加可減機制與兩鐵合併同於○七年底實施。當時，港鐵的前身地鐵為了爭取市民支持合併，曾承諾於合併後提升服務水平。可惜五年下來，人們只見港鐵事故不斷，現在港府考慮引入懲罰機制，迫使港鐵改善營運，實乃應有之義。

問題是，港鐵唯利是圖，罔顧社會責任，不斷以可加可減為由大幅加價，為通脹火上添油。

可加可減荒腔走板，已經淪為只加不減機制，也是民怨的源頭之一，社會上要求檢討之聲此起彼落。當局順應民意進行檢討，不僅要考慮服務水平，還要充分考慮港鐵的盈利狀況及市民的負擔能力，避免出現以往港鐵在狂賺之下仍大幅加價的荒謬情況。

It is now the opportune time to bring order out of the chaotic transport policy

Our society is getting increasingly politicized. National education and the north-eastern New Territories development plan have aroused fierce controversies. Constantly taken to task, the new-term government can only focus on livelihood issues and hope to show the public some achievements as soon as possible. Following the 10 major livelihood measures launched earlier, the government now also includes in its coming agenda the review of Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited's (MTRCL) fare adjustment mechanism which allows both upward and downward adjustments. The government will take into full account the community's views, and it does not rule out the possibility of taking reference from the Singaporean approach: in case of a serious blunder, a penalty mechanism will kick in and MTRCL will be fined or required to repay the affected passengers.

To trace to its source, the fare adjustment mechanism was first implemented at the end of 2007 when MTRCL and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation merged. At that time, in order to win the public's support for its merger, MTRCL promised that it would enhance its services thenceforth. Unfortunately, in the past 5 years, people only saw railway incidents one after another. Now the Hong Kong government considers the introduction of a penalty mechanism so as to force MTRCL to improve its operations. This is indeed something the government is duty-bound to do.

The problem is that MTRCL is bent solely on profit and ignores its social responsibility. Time and again, it has made use of the adjustment mechanism to raise fares considerably, adding fuel to the fire of inflation. The fare adjustment mechanism is now twisted and reduced to a mechanism that only sees fares go up, but never down. This has become one of the sources of grievances, so much so that there is a popular outcry for a review. While the government complies with the will of the people and conducts a review, it should not only look at MTRCL's quality of service, but also its profit level and the affordability of the fares to Hong Kong people. By doing so, the past absurdity of the synchrony of MTRCL's sharp fare increase with its huge profit will be avoided.

重要生字

be constantly taken to task 動輒得咎

trace to its source 追本溯源

add fuel to the fire 火上加油