Hong Kong’s new smoking rules just kicked in. Is everyone sticking to them?

Some smokers are still lighting up at bus stops in Hong Kong despite new rules banning them from doing so while queuing, the Post has observed, with authorities saying they have stepped up inspections at tourist spots and ramped up publicity efforts.

The new rules took effect on Thursday and include a ban on anyone smoking at designated boarding points for public transport when waiting in a queue of two or more people.

But on the first day of the policy, a Post reporter spotted a man smoking as he queued up with several people at a bus stop on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The smoker, a freelance worker who only gave his name as Ray, said he was unaware of the new rules. “I just passed by and lit a cigarette,” he said before walking away.

Matthew Ong, 38, a lawyer visiting from the Philippines, avoided breaking the rules while smoking an e-cigarette as no one else was waiting at the bus stop near the Star Ferry Pier. He said he learned about the ban from an earlier Post report, but was unfazed by the change as a tourist.

“No one has ever accosted me to tell me, ‘Hey, you cannot smoke here’ … I have never been fined,” Ong said, adding that he had travelled to Hong Kong more than 50 times to visit family in the city.