Business proprietor Louis Ho recollects how a lot of Hong Kong’s taxi drivers refused to take him and his mother – who was a wheelchair consumer – to the sanatorium for routine take-a-look- at-ups.
“I didn’t even want the driver to hold my mum or the wheelchair. I did the whole thing myself,” says the 64–year–vintage whose mother passed away in 2018.
He is one among many Hong Kongers who’ve a tale to tell about their metropolis‘s notorious cabbies. Ask them what they prefer least about Hong Kong, and taxi drivers will in all likelihood be excessive at the list.
The most not unusual complaints: drivers are rude, refuse to just accept rides and often take longer routes so clients have to pay extra.
But now the Hong Kong Taxi Council is on a task to transform this photograph. they may dispatch “courtesy ambassadors” armed with “high-quality–practice” pamphlets to taxi stands.
Will that in reality help? That relies upon who you ask.
A single campaign cannot college impolite or misbehaving drivers in a single day – there are about 46,000 cabbies in the city, cautions Ryan Wong, the chairman of the council.
However he is hopeful: “This isn’t always the first time that we’ve done this, and the comments from drivers have been high quality.”
Hong Kongers are more skeptical. An interview clip of a taxi driver pronouncing that passengers, instead of drivers, are those to be educated has long gone viral inside the city – many factor it as evidence that not anything will change.
A lot of them are also still smarting from beyond reports.
Amy Ho, in her 30s, stated she stopped taking taxis a few years ago after a stumble upon something that she discovered was especially ugly.
“I didn’t realize I had asked for a completely brief adventure. As soon as I reached the destination, I scrambled for cash to pay,” she says.
“It became merely five seconds or so, and the driving force stated, ‘can you stop dragging on, auntie? I’m able to’t consider you need a journey for this sort of brief distance and you can’t even afford it!’.”
Challenges and Complaints in Hong Kong’s Taxi Industry
IT employee Kenny Tong now takes a cab approximately three times a month, who prefers to avoid the ordeal where he can. To hail one, he says, he regularly has to “bow, wait for the driver to lower the car window” and check if his vacation spot is at the driving force‘s route for the day.
“some taxi drivers grumble at some stage in the journey after I have boarded,” he adds.
He also unearths it frustrating when drivers do not now use GPS and ask him the way to reach the vacation spot – even though they’ve “a couple of telephones at the dashboard”.
maximum disgruntled passengers now do not document proceedings due to the fact it’s time–eating. Still, there were approximately 11,500 court cases ultimately – a 11% boom from 2019, consistent with the transport Advisory Committee. only a tiny fraction were prosecuted.
Then there is the problem of dishonest drivers – with vacationers particularly susceptible.
In early July, a traveler from China’s eastern province of Zhejiang took to social media to whine that she was given HK$forty four ($five.6; £four.five) in exchange after giving a cabbie HK$1,000 for a HK$56 trip. She reported the incident to the police, but couldn’t get her money returned due to insufficient proof.
However, negative behavior is also a symptom of the deeper troubles that beset the town’s taxi enterprise, which is struggling with high costs, improved competition and bureaucracy.
There are approximately 18,000 taxi licenses inside the town, and this wide variety has been in large part capped on the grounds that 1994, aside from 2016 while simply 25 licenses were issued. Many holders see the licenses as an investment and lease them to drivers.
Leung Tat Chong – who has worked as a taxi motive force for more than a long time – says the hire of the licenses has saved growth and a driver has to pay approximately HK$500 for a 12-hour daylight hours shift – which no longer encompasses gas. On an ordinary day, a driver can make HK$500 to HK$800.
“We are able to simply do greater business in the course of rush hours, and now and again we watch for up to twenty-five minutes and there isn’t even one unmarried passenger,” he says. “To make a living, some drivers aren’t as affected and that they haven’t any ability to enhance their services.”
This isn’t always an excuse for terrible behavior, he provides, however, the “reality” of the enterprise.
Taxis additionally face severe opposition from Uber which has been hugely popular considering its entry into the Hong Kong market in 2014. The agency says 1/2 of the city’s 7.5 million populace have used it as a minimum once.
The taxi enterprise has asked the government to crack down on the platform, which stays formally illegal within the city, arguing that it’s far unfair due to the fact Uber drivers aren’t subjected to the equal laws – such as desiring special licenses to run.
Industry Reforms and the Future of Hong Kong’s Taxis
Lately, some taxi drivers even launched a vigilante sting operation to reveal Uber drivers – but that attracted backlash from the general public, lots of whom say they pick the experience hailing app exactly because of the troubles they have got with cab drivers.
“We underestimated the impact of ride-hailing apps,” says Chau Kwok-keung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public mild Bus association. “Passengers are inclined to pay more for a higher riding experience.”
Even as Mr Chau is against Uber, he concedes that there are fewer conflicts on that platform because drivers can pick the passengers and fares are agreed earlier than the adventure.
He additionally admits that the industry has been sluggish to adapt to on-line hailing systems and digital fee. maximum taxi drivers nonetheless best accept coins.
The taxi enterprise also struggles to attract new blood. The common age of drivers is close to 60. Mr Chau argues that the lack of prospects is an important aspect, as taxi fare has simplest been raised four times within the decade.
In 2023, the average earnings of an urban taxi driving force turned into approximately HK$22,000, about 10% higher than the metropolis’s median profits.
Hong Kong ranks forty fifth in phrases of taxi fare within the global, in keeping with living-free online database Numbeo. Mr Chau says it’s very low considering Hong Kong is a pricey metropolis.
“Many suppose that simplest poor humans end up cabbies, and it’s the ultimate motel when one meets economic problems,” says Mr Leung, who thinks that the government has to tighten requirements and provide greater education for taxi drivers to enhance the profession’s image.
However massive modifications are afoot for the metropolis’s taxi enterprise.
A demerit-point gadget will take impact in September, and misbehavior ought to result in a license suspension after a court conviction.
A taxi fleet system can be introduced and authorities have issued five new licenses. It’ll permit bendy pricing, but in return, those fleets, which include three,500 taxis, should provide online reserving, non-public rating systems and digital payment.
For now, drivers and passengers say they are waiting to see if these reforms can be maintained.
“If we offer an appropriate carrier, the enterprise will develop and there will be extra passengers,” says Mr Leung.
