The MTR subway of Hong Kong is completely the opposite of transit systems in the United States: it actually makes a profit. The subway's underlying net profit, which excludes any changes in valuation of real estate properties, rose to 8.57 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) for 2007. A large chunk of MTR's profits comes from the developing and selling of real estate properties. MTR has built residential real estate surrounding train stations, selling 7 billion dollars worth of units last year. The construction of these flats, however, were accounted for in 2006 books, so the profits in 2008 are suspected to be less than the previous year. Ridership remains to be at a high for Hong Kong's subway. About 948 million rides (an increase of 8 percent) were taken last year. Now, the newest figures show that 3.5 million took the subway in February 2008, an increase of almost a million from last year's February count. This is truly amazing for a transit system, where gaining a profit is difficult.
