[secondaryacct]

Yes MTR here in Hong Kong is quite respectable: the subway works well, the price is cheap, the company redevelop a lot around stations, it's a model of proper corporate management of public infrastructure.

The only snag they faced in my 7 years here is when they were caught in the crossfire during the protest: at first they would help evactuate protestors during police intervention but then the police asked them instead to help them capture them which led to widespread destruction by protestors.

My own anti protest stance is mostly due to the wanton destruction of MTR properties which I found distracted from the original issue by the angelic democrats turned subway destructors.

[robjan]

MTR Corporation is 75% owned by the Hong Kong government and receives subsidies in the form of land leases granted below market value and a monopoly on rail infrastructure. I really appreciate the MTR, and am also a part of the 25%, but it's not really a truly private company.