You find a kindergarten that could work. Then you check the bus. Can you get there before work? Can you manage collection? And what will all that travelling cost? Citybus is seeking a 17.7% fare increase. If your school run uses its buses, the price you check today could need another look.

Hong Kong has also lost a record 40 kindergartens as births fall. That doesn't tell us your nearest school has closed. It does mean parents are choosing from fewer schools across the city. A place still has to work for the family getting there. You can like a school very much and still struggle with its journey every weekday.

This is where choosing a kindergarten becomes a small transport department job. You check the route. You check the time. You check how to get yourself back after leaving the child. The child gets dropped off. Congratulations, you're still travelling. Collection brings another set of journeys. The bus fare keeps turning up in a decision supposedly about where your child will learn.

KMB is seeking a rise too. These are requests, so the higher fares aren't settled. But parents weighing a bus-dependent school run have reason to keep the calculator handy. If Citybus gets its requested rise, that extra fare will come round again at drop-off and again at collection.