​The Government launched the "Stepping Stone" – Pilot Scheme on "Subsidy to Encourage Employment of Disabled Recipients under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme", subsidised by the Co… read more
The Transport Department (TD) today (September 1) reminded students to allow more travelling time on the first school day tomorrow (September 2) to avoid being late, as the overall traffic is anticipated to be busier. Motorists are advised to avoid driving to school areas.
“Students, especially those attending a new school soon, should familiarise themselves early with public transport routes to and from their schools and the service frequencies. Those taking ferries should further check their vessel types and journey times. Students should pay attention to the latest traffic news. They should also take heed of road safety on their journeys, properly use crossing facilities to cross the roads, and not eat, drink, play mobile games, use a mobile phone, or listen to any audio device, etc, when crossing the roads,” a spokesman for the TD said.
Major public transport operators (PTOs) have been reminded to provide adequate services, and enhance service frequency and deploy standby services when necessary to cater for passenger demand. The TD has also reviewed the neighbouring traffic and transport arrangements of new schools. Special routes serving school areas will be resumed. Meanwhile, local franchised bus operators providing services to and from land boundary control points (BCPs) and cross-boundary coach operators have been reminded to provide adequate services for cross-boundary students.
“The operation of the TD’s Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre (ETCC) will be escalated to the highest tier, the Joint Steering Mode, tomorrow morning to jointly and closely monitor the real-time traffic and public transport services on the first school day in collaboration with the Police and PTOs. Staff will be deployed at major public transport interchanges and school areas across the territory for on-site monitoring, including school areas such as Kowloon Tong, Po Kong Village Road in Wong Tai Sin, Kwai Shing Circuit in Kwai Chung and Braemar Hill in North Point, land BCPs and tunnels. They will report the latest situation to the ETCC for service enhancement and implementation of traffic management measures accordingly where necessary, such as adjustment to on-street traffic signals timing and liaison with the Police for assistance in traffic dispersion,” the spokesman added.
The ETCC will disseminate the latest information on traffic news of various districts to the public as appropriate. Members of the public are advised to pay attention to media broadcasts or the TD’s mobile application “HKeMobility” or website (www.td.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call the TD’s hotline on 2804 2600 or 1823. Details of the operators’ service are also available on their hotlines and websites:
| Operator | Hotline | Website |
| MTR | 2881 8888 | www.mtr.com.hk |
| Citybus | 2136 8888 | www.citybus.com.hk |
| Kowloon Motor Bus | 2745 4466 | www.kmb.hk |
| Long Win Bus | 2261 2791 | www.lwb.hk |
| New Lantao Bus | 2984 9848 | www.nlb.com.hk |
| Sun Ferry | 2131 8181 | www.sunferry.com.hk |
| Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry | 2815 6063 | hkkf.com.hk |
​The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (September 1) launched a new tranche of the Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families and the Scheme on Living Allowance for Low-income Carers of Persons with Disabilities (the carer allowance schemes).
The SWD will issue letters to the relevant elderly persons/persons with disabilities in batches for inviting their eligible carers to submit applications. For those elderly persons/persons with disabilities who received the invitation letters last year, their carers may also apply. Applicants should complete the application form and return it together with supporting documents to the Carer Allowances and Subsidies Team (CAST) of the SWD (Address: Room 404, 4th floor, Lady Trench Training Centre, 44 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong). The SWD will inform applicants of the results upon completion of the assessment.
Besides the two carer allowance schemes, the Special Care Subsidy Scheme for Persons with Severe Disabilities and the Scheme on Providing Subsidy for Higher Disability Allowance Recipients in Paid Employment to Hire Carers were also regularised last year, which aims to provide carers of elderly persons/persons with disabilities from low-income families or persons with disabilities with a living allowance to help supplement their living expenses as well as to assist elderly persons/persons with disabilities in need of long-term care to receive better care and remain in the community with the help of their carers.
At the same time, the SWD has updated the monthly household income limits for the two carer allowance schemes and the Special Care Subsidy Scheme for Persons with Severe Disabilities, as well as the monthly employment income limits for the Scheme on Providing Subsidy for Higher Disability Allowance Recipients in Paid Employment to Hire Carers. The updated income limits will take effect from today, which are applicable to existing recipients and new applicants.
For details of the schemes, please visit the SWD’s website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/svcdesk/funds), or contact the CAST (tel: 3468 5635 or 3468 5636; fax: 3468 5648; email: castenq@swd.gov.hk) during office hours. read more
Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, given its distinction of being the city’s only centre that performs haematopoietic stem cell transplants for children, is expected to do such a procedure on a young girl suffering from thalassaemia.
The transplant is expected to take place in October after a stem cell unit from the patient’s relative in Guangzhou was successfully transported across the boundary.
News.gov.hk spoke with representatives of the hospital who explain the importance of being able to do such transplants in Hong Kong and the development of the hospital’s services.
The story is available at www.news.gov.hk/eng/feature today (September 1) in text and video format. read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Liquor Licensing Board:
The Liquor Licensing Board will meet on Tuesday (September 3) to consider two applications for renewal and amendment of liquor licences.
The applications are (not in order of discussion):
Hong Kong:
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HONEY HOT in Central
Kowloon:
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NO. 2 in Tsim Sha Tsui
The board will also consider revocation of the liquor licences of “Kajie’s Kitchen” in Causeway Bay and CHA KEE DAI PAI DONG in Sham Shui Po.
The meeting will be held at 9.45am in the conference room, Room 102, 1/F, 258 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai. Members of the public are welcome to attend. read more