Card Purchases Available via App Starting April 11
Pets Must Be in Designated Carrier Bags to Board
In Hong Kong, cats and dogs will be allowed to ride the light rail for the time being.
Chinese local media such as Gwangmyeong.com and Zhonghua Net reported on the 27th that "Hong Kong MTR will start a two-month pilot program from May 1st allowing 'cats and dogs to ride together' on the light rail."
Pet owners can purchase a "card allowing cats and dogs to ride" through the MTR mobile app starting from April 11th, 'World Pet Day.' Each card costs HKD 99 (about 18,000 KRW) and can be purchased once per month.
According to the report, cats and dogs must be inside a pet-specific carrier bag to board the light rail. The total length, width, and height of the bag must not exceed 170 cm. Pets not placed inside the designated carrier bag are not allowed to board. Additionally, passengers must board through the last door of each train and remain in the rearmost car throughout the ride.
As more people travel with pets, various pet-related services have recently been introduced across regions in China. Guangzhou Bus Group launched three special bus routes for pets in January last year. Shenzhen Bus Group established seating areas where pets and their owners can ride together in April last year.
Shenzhen Airport opened China's first pet waiting lounge in May last year. Separate spaces for cats and dogs are provided within the terminal hall. Moreover, pet-friendly parks and shopping malls are being established one after another in areas such as Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.
Li Wanling, MTR Operations and Responsibility Manager, said, "We realized that the public wants public transportation where they can be with their cats and dogs, so we applied this project on a pilot basis," adding, "We established boarding rules to balance the demands of many passengers."
Meanwhile, Bloomberg recently forecasted that "China's pet industry will grow by 40% by 2030, reaching $49 billion (about 71.23 trillion KRW)."
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