Eligible Filipino voters in Hong Kong who are scheduled to start casting their votes can avail of free bus rides from eight pickup points to the designated voting precincts at the Bayanihan Center in Kennedy Town.
The bus service will run for five consecutive Sundays and will have pickup points in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Shek Kip Mei, Tai Wai, Choi Hung and North Point where chartered buses will pickup voters and take them to Kennedy Town. Other voters may choose to take public transport to get to the voting venue.
Forty buses will be hired to transport voters from 7:30am to 3:30pm on April 10, 17, 24, May 1 and 8.
Business executives met with Vice Consul Alex Vallespin at the Philippine Consulate General Hong Kong on March 15 and committed to sponsor 22 of the 40 buses to service the eight routes.
AFreight, LBC, Prime Credit, Roberto V. Ongpin group, SMART-PLDT, CSL, the Philippine Bankers’ Club and Peya Travel were among the sponsoring firms who are allowed to display company streamers on the side of the buses and assign a marshal on designated buses. No campaigning, however, will be allowed inside the buses.
The initiative of bringing voters started after the low turnout in the 2007 midterm elections prompted organizers to find ways to arrest the turnout decline.