Re:Show HN: I built a transit travel time map
by robjan on Monday July 24, 2023 @12:06PM
(#36850182)
HK has an interesting business model in that the MTR is majority owned by the government and the government grants the land on top of train stations to MTR. MTR then generally builds shopping malls, offices and residential developments e.g LOHAS park, there making it a property company which operates (very profitable) rails between its properties. Hence, the average person not only travels on the MTR but also spends money at MTR Malls and may live and/or work in an MTR property. MTR corporation also provides consultancy services and even runs other railways in other countries e.g the Elizabeth Line on the London Underground.
This will make their requests for more money/raises/etc seem absolutely insane when you compare what these countries/cities/agencies do WRT to transporting millions of people efficiently every single day - and not to mention just how clean such systems are.
When you go through stations in HK - you see well-uniformed cleaning folks all over the place.