The MTR, Hong Kong's mass transit rail system, is a world class transportation wonder. It's…read moreextremely efficient, extremely widespread as a metropolis-wide network, very clean, and also very economical. The fares vary by distance, but many of our one way fares were in the range of only $0.60 USD to $0.90 USD. We used it numerous times, and I don't think we waited more than 5 minutes for a train to arrive. Often, it came quicker than some waits we had for the hotel elevators lol.
The MTR stations are everywhere in the Hong Kong area, and you never seem to have to walk very far to get to one. There is an MTR station at virtually every major mall in the Hong Kong vicinity. An Octopus card can be loaded into your Apple wallet and a nod of your smartphone at their smart turnstiles will get you in or out of a station effortlessly. When our trip was completed, I applied via the Octopus app for a refund of our unused balances, and instead of the stated 6-8 weeks wait, the refund showed up in my checking account in 2 days!
Each train of maybe 8-10 long cars had one car dedicated to first class. For grins, we tried it once for a short ride. First class is very comfortable with bigger seats, like on a comfortable bus coach, and there is never a need to stand, which is often the case with regular MTR rides. The fare is about 2-3x that of the regular fare. It's an option but not really something most consumers would opt for.
Overall, I was just as extremely impressed with the system today as I was 32 years ago when I first encountered it.