8:30am-9:00am: Star Ferry

8:30am-9:00am: Alok Jain, CEO & Managing Director of Trans-consult 

8:30am-9:00am: Prof Stephen Cheung, the chair of the Transport Advisory Committee 

9:00am-9:30am: Promoting Hong Kong

9:00am-9:30am: Johannes Hack, member of the government’s Task Force on Promoting and Branding Hong Kong; President of the German Chamber of Commerce

9:00am-9:30am: Brett Free, principal of BMF Consulting; former deputy director in the Infor-mation Services Department of the HKSAR government

On Thursday's Backchat we're talking about the future of Hong Kong's oldest mode of public transport.
Fares on the Star Ferry will go up by more than 50 percent starting in April as its debt-ridden operator struggles to stay afloat.

It had wanted to double fares, but the government decided that was too much for the public to bear, and approved a scaled-down increase.

Still, a weekday journey between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central or Wanchai will go up to HK$5 per trip for adult passengers — up from HK$3.20, while children’s tickets will rise by HK$1.

Weekend adult tickets will go from HK$4.20 to HK$6.50.

Is this a good balance? Can the fare rises keep the iconic ferry on solid fiscal ground? Can it turn to any other sources of revenue?

After 9am, we’ll look at the newly set up task force on Promoting and Branding Hong Kong.