Realizing Consumption Potential of Rail Transit and Promoting Virtuous Circle of Society and Economy

MTR Corporation

Executive Summary

Boosting consumption and stimulating demand is very important to the stable growth of China’s domestic economy. The CPC Central Committee and governments at all levels attach great importance to the development of the domestic consumer market, have been introducing various policies to encourage consumer spending, and make consumption stimulation the focus of domestic economic work.

The rail transit industry has the natural defect of huge exogenous effect but insufficient endogenous effect, and it is difficult to cover the operating cost simply with ticket revenue. Therefore, it has become a bottleneck problem that rail transit operators must solve before realizing sustainable development by striking a balance between local government subsidies and the demand for public transportation. The huge passenger traffic resources possessed by rail transit can lay a solid foundation for the expansion of consumer spending. The potential of spending hidden in the huge passenger traffic resources of rail transit systems can be unleashed and transformed into real purchasing power, which can not only increase the operating income of rail transit operators and reduce the subsidies required from the local government, but also meet the day-to-day demand of passengers. This will achieve a win-for-all situation among the government, the operators and the passengers, and realize a virtuous circle of society and economy.

As one of the world’s leading rail transit operators, the MTR Corporation, in the course of more than 40 years of business, has actively explored the effective utilization of rail transit passenger traffic resources, and has successfully created a new mode of consumption across Hong Kong’s rail transit stations. This is a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the MTR Corporation and Hong Kong at large. These best practices can also serve as a reference for mainland cities to create a mode of consumption in rail transit stations and boost the spending of rail transit passengers.

The MTR will continue to step up its efforts to participate in the construction and development of mainland cities as it has the confidence, the will and the ability to contribute more to the quality development of rail transit systems and cities in Mainland China.

In the current context of complex and volatile global economic situation and the increasing uncertainty of external demand, boosting consumer spending and stimulating domestic demand is very important for stabilizing economic growth. Especially given the present economic growth pattern, consumption, one of the troikas that drives economic growth, plays an increasingly prominent role.

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