你會發(fā)現(xiàn),香港最賺錢的竟是地下30米的地鐵。
The city’s subway is the face of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTR) -- a publicly traded company that pulled in $5.2 billion in revenue last year。
香港地鐵是上市企業(yè)香港地鐵公司(MTR)的主營業(yè)務(wù),去年營收達到52億美元。
With a $2 billion annual profit, the Hong Kong’s subway is an anomaly among major rail networks. New York’s subway, for example, suffers from chronic funding gaps and will spend nearly $2.5 billion in 2015 to service its debt。
20億美元的年盈利率使香港地鐵在國際眾多大型軌道交通中首屈一指。而紐約地鐵面臨長期資金缺口,還要在2015年償還25億美元的債務(wù)。
How does Hong Kong’s train and bus network manage to clear its mind-boggling margins?
香港軌道交通網(wǎng)如何運營,才能有如此驚人的盈利呢?
First off, this is one impressive subway system. Even with more than 5 million daily commuters, MTR trains boast a 99.9% on-time arrival rate. Fares are notoriously cheap ($.50 to $3), but cover roughly 175% of the system’s operating costs。
首先,地鐵系統(tǒng)效率驚人。即使每天的客流量有500萬人次,港鐵列車的正點率達到了99.9%,并且票價非常便宜,只有0.5美元到3美元之間,但票務(wù)收入已經(jīng)達到了運營成本的175%。
But the company’s real profits are derived from a lesser-known side of the business: property development. Some 50 major properties across Hong Kong are owned, developed or managed by MTR, including two of the city’s tallest skyscrapers。
其次就是,港鐵還有一項鮮為人知的業(yè)務(wù),也是真正帶來收入的業(yè)務(wù),那就是房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)。港鐵在香港擁有、開發(fā)和管理了香港50個大型地產(chǎn)項目,包括香港兩座最高的摩天大樓。
"Sometimes critics say it’s a property development firm doing a side business of rail," said Tim Hau, a professor at University of Hong Kong’s School of Economics and Finance。
“有時評論認為,港鐵是一家房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)公司,地鐵業(yè)務(wù)只是副業(yè),”香港大學(xué)[微博]金融學(xué)院教授Tim Hua說道。
Here’s how it works: MTR enjoys a special relationship with the Hong Kong government, which is also its majority shareholder. The government provides land -- at no cost -- for use by the train operator, and MTR is then allowed to develop the areas above and around its stations。
其運營方式是:港鐵同香港政府之間有著特殊的關(guān)系,作為港鐵的最大股東,港府免費提供土地讓港鐵經(jīng)營,并允許其開發(fā)地鐵站上面和周圍的區(qū)域。
MTR often builds shopping malls right on top of stations -- it owns 13. Last year, rents at the malls went up by an average of 14%. Below ground, each subway stop is jam-packed with retail outlets, which all pay rent to MTR or have a profit-sharing agreement in place。
鋼鐵通常在地鐵站上面建立大型商場,目前擁有13家大型商場。去年這些商場的租金平均上漲了14%。而在地下,每個停靠站都布滿了零售店,這些零售店都向港鐵繳納租金或分成利潤。
You can find every kind of retail in the stations -- even Michelin-starred dim sum restaurants。
各式各樣的零售網(wǎng)點遍布車站,甚至還有米其林星級點心餐廳。
Wong Sau Lan has been managing one such restaurant, called Tim Ho Wan, for the past two years. She said the restaurant’s MTR outlet, located in a subway station that serves the central business district, is twice as popular as its flagship restaurant。
Wong Sau Lan兩年來經(jīng)營著一家叫Tim Ho Wan 的餐廳,坐落于地鐵出口,由于該地鐵站服務(wù)于中央商務(wù)區(qū),餐廳的顧客是旗艦店的兩倍。
For the 14 hours that Tim Ho Wan is open each day, people will, on average, wait 40 minutes for the MTR dining experience。
Tim Ho Wan每天營業(yè)14個小時,顧客平均要等上40分鐘才能享受到這家地鐵餐廳的服務(wù)。
MTR is now exporting its model abroad. It’s already been commissioned to build and run lines in China, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia, and more projects are in the works。
港鐵的經(jīng)營模式正在向外推廣,以被委托承接中國、英國、瑞典和澳大利亞等國地鐵的建設(shè)運營項目,還有更多項目正在進行中。
"They’ll go wherever there’s a profit," said Hau. "There aren’t that many viable competitors in the world."
“哪里有利可圖,港鐵就會去哪里,”Hua說道:“因為在全球范圍內(nèi),能與他們競爭的對手不是很多。”