Hong Kong’s transport minister has argued that a HK$2 (26 US cents) increase in taxi flag-fall rates takes into account a drop in earnings among drivers from pre-Covid levels, while calling on the industry to meet expectations amid tensions with Uber.
Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung also said on Saturday that setting up a premium taxi fleet was the government’s prime solution for fixing the industry’s reputation, with authorities also still working on a proposal to regulate ride-hailing platforms that would be unveiled in the middle of the year.
The Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body, last week approved an increase to flag-fall rates for red urban taxi trips from HK$27 to HK$29. The raise takes effect from July 14.
The minimum fare for green cabs based in the New Territories and the blue ones on Lantau Island will also increase to HK$25.5 and HK$24, respectively.
The transport minister told a radio programme that authorities had studied the income of taxi drivers before proposing the new rates, finding that cabbies’ monthly earnings stood between HK$17,000 and HK$20,000 last year.
“We then compare the 2023 levels with those of 2019. After factoring in some inflation, if I remember correctly, the income of some taxi drivers – those on Lantau Island – was worse than that in 2019,” he said. “We felt that would be no good for the long-term development of the taxi industry.”
The minister also acknowledged that the rogue practices of “a handful of black sheep” had brought “unpleasant experiences” to taxi passengers, urging the industry to “live better up to the expectations” and seize opportunities brought by the new premium fleet initiative.
Authorities are accepting proposals from operators looking to create premium taxi fleets.
Under the scheme, operators must accept electronic payments and be able to effectively handle customer complaints. A premium fleet can also charge extra for booking and other services.
“We are already providing some financial inducements to encourage them to do better and enhance the confidence of the people. This is the direction we are working on,” Lam said.
“Through such managed fleets, we hope to improve taxi services and thereby bring about a cultural change in the entire taxi industry. Such changes are inevitable because if things carry on like this, the taxi industry will perform worse and worse, and the public will lose confidence in taxis.”
The industry made headlines earlier this week after a group of cabbies filmed themselves posing as passengers and tricking Uber drivers into stopping near police patrols in a bid to report illegal ride-hailing services.
Although Uber has been in the city for nine years, ride-hailing services are illegal without a hire-car permit.
Lam said a proposed regulatory framework for ride-hailing services would ensure passengers could only use authorised vehicles.
Authorities would also take into account Hong Kong’s “road conditions” when issuing permits for such hire cars, he said, but stopped short of saying whether the government was prepared to ease conditions for ride-hailing services.