30 cents for a Tram Ride

The dream of taking a tram ride with 30 cents (Two ways) to the Peak came true yesterday. It was the 120^thAnniversary of the Hong Kong Peak Tramway.

Yesterday the weather was bad. Rain and thunder dominated the sky. There was a long queue at the station on Garden Road all day. At one time in the afternoon, the number of people reached 6000. There were 6 rides in every hour. Each tram could carry about 120 people. That meant that only 720 passengers could be delivered up the peak in 1 hour. In that case, a passenger may take 7 to 8 hours in waiting for his/her turn to board a tram.

The reasons why people came to take the ride were:
Firstly, it was extremely cheap, only 30 cents for two-ways, back to the old days when the trams were operated 120 years ago.
Secondly, the tickets resembled those used in the past (see the left-hand bottom of the photo). Thirdly, the passengers could take photos with the working staff who wore those costumes in Queen Victoria’s times.
Fourthly, the tickets would be punched with holes by the old punching machines held by the working staff.

At six in the evening, the Peak Tramway Company announced that they would stop people from queuing at the station. It was because if they did not do this, they could not stop service at mid-night.

My wife and I did not join this hot activity yesterday because we did not have the patience to wait for such a long time nor we could bear the wet weather and the heat from the crowds of people at the station. Someone said in TV that it was worth taking the ride because of the old tickets. I disagree with this because these tickets are duplicates of the past. They are not the originals.

One interesting was that the tram fare collected on the whole day would be donated to the Sichuan Earthquake Movement. There were about 12000 passengers yesterday. The total fare could only reach a maximum of HK$3600. How small was the donation!