Why Hong Kong has a complicated relationship with taxi drivers

Enterprise proprietor Louis Ho remembers how so a lot of Hong Kong’s taxi drivers refused to take him and his mom – who was a wheelchair consumer – to hospital for routine check-ups.

“I didn’t even want the driving force to hold my mum or the wheelchair. I did every part myself,” says the 64-year-old whose mom handed away in 2018.

He’s one among many Hong Kongers who’ve a narrative to inform about their metropolis’s notorious cabbies. Ask them what they like least about Hong Kong, and taxi drivers will probably be excessive on the checklist.

The commonest complaints: drivers are impolite, refuse to simply accept rides and sometimes take longer routes so clients must pay extra.

However now the Hong Kong Taxi Council is on a mission to rework this picture. They’ll despatch “courtesy ambassadors” armed with “best-practice” pamphlets to taxi stands.

Will that basically assist? That depends upon who you ask.

A single marketing campaign can’t college impolite or misbehaving drivers in a single day – there are about 46,000 cabbies within the metropolis, cautions Ryan Wong, the chairman of the council.

However he’s hopeful: “This isn’t the primary time that we have now accomplished this, and the suggestions from drivers has been constructive.”

Hong Kongers are extra sceptical. An interview clip of a taxi driver saying that passengers, quite than drivers, are those to be educated has gone viral within the metropolis – many level to it as proof that nothing will change.

A lot of them are additionally nonetheless smarting from previous experiences.

Amy Ho, in her 30s, stated she stopped taking taxis just a few years in the past after an encounter that she discovered significantly disagreeable.

“I didn’t realise I had requested for a really quick journey. As quickly as I reached the vacation spot, I scrambled for money to pay,” she says.

“It was merely 5 seconds or so, and the driving force stated, ‘Are you able to cease dragging on, auntie? I can’t consider you want a experience for such a brief distance and you’ll’t even afford it!’.”

IT employee Kenny Tong now solely take a cab about 3 times a month, preferring to keep away from the ordeal the place he can. To hail one, he says, he typically has to “bow, look forward to the driving force to decrease the automotive window” and examine if his vacation spot is on the driving force’s route for the day.

“Some taxi drivers grumble all through the journey after I’ve boarded,” he provides.

He additionally finds it irritating when drivers don’t use GPS and ask him find out how to attain the vacation spot – though they’ve “a number of telephones on the dashboard”.

Most disgruntled passengers don’t file complaints as a result of it is time-consuming. Nonetheless, there there have been about 11,500 complaints final 12 months – a 11% improve from 2019, based on the Transport Advisory Committee. Solely a tiny fraction had been prosecuted.

Then there’s the issue of dishonest drivers – with vacationers particularly susceptible.

In early July, a customer from the China’s jap province of Zhejiang took to social media to complain that she was solely given HK$44 ($5.6; £4.5) in change after giving a cabbie HK$1,000 for a HK$56 experience. She reported the incident to the police, however couldn’t get her a refund due to inadequate proof.

However poor behaviour is barely a symptom of the deeper points that beset town’s taxi business, which is battling excessive prices, elevated competitors and forms.

There are about 18,000 taxi licenses within the metropolis, and this quantity has been largely capped since 1994, aside from 2016 when simply 25 licenses had been issued. Many holders see the licenses as an funding and hire them to drivers.

Leung Tat Chong – who has labored as a taxi driver for greater than 20 years – says the hire of the licenses has saved rising and a driver has to pay about HK$500 for a 12-hour daytime shift – which doesn’t embrace gas. On a typical day, a driver could make HK$500 to HK$800.

“We will solely do extra enterprise throughout rush hours, and typically we look forward to as much as 25 minutes and there’s not even one single passenger,” he says. “To make a residing, some drivers usually are not as affected person they usually don’t have any capability to enhance their providers.”

This isn’t an excuse for poor behaviour, he provides, however the “actuality” of the business.

Taxis additionally face intense competitors from Uber which has been massively in style since its entry into the Hong Kong market in 2014. The corporate says half of town’s 7.5 million inhabitants have used it a minimum of as soon as.

The taxi business has referred to as on the federal government to crack down on the platform, which stays formally unlawful within the metropolis, arguing that it’s unfair as a result of Uber drivers usually are not subjected to the identical legal guidelines – together with needing particular licences to run.

In late Could, some taxi drivers even launched a vigilante sting operation to reveal Uber drivers – however that attracted backlash from the general public, a lot of whom say they like the experience hailing app exactly due to the problems they’ve with cab drivers.

“We underestimated the influence of ride-hailing apps,” says Chau Kwok-keung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Mild Bus Affiliation. “Passengers are prepared to pay extra for a greater driving expertise.”

Whereas Mr Chau is in opposition to Uber, he concedes that there are fewer conflicts on that platform as a result of drivers can decide the passengers and fares are agreed earlier than the journey. He additionally admits that the business has been gradual to adapt to on-line hailing techniques and digital cost. Most taxi drivers nonetheless solely settle for money.

The taxi business additionally struggles to draw new blood. The typical age of drivers is near 60. Mr Chau argues that the dearth of prospects is a crucial issue, as taxi fare has solely been raised 4 occasions prior to now decade. In 2023, the common revenue of an city taxi driver was about HK$22,000, about 10% greater than town’s median revenue. Hong Kong ranks forty fifth when it comes to taxi fare on the planet, based on living-cost on-line database Numbeo. Mr Chau says it’s very low contemplating Hong Kong is an costly metropolis.

“Many suppose that solely poor folks turn into cabbies, and it’s the final resort when one meets monetary difficulties,” says Mr Leung, who thinks that the federal government ought to tighten necessities and supply extra coaching for taxi drivers to enhance the career’s picture.

However massive modifications are afoot for town’s taxi business.

A demerit-point system will take impact in September, and misbehaviour might result in a license suspension after a court docket conviction.

A taxi fleet system might be launched and authorities have issued 5 new licenses. It can enable versatile pricing, however in return, these fleets, which embrace 3,500 taxis, have to supply on-line reserving, private ranking techniques and digital cost.

For now, drivers and passengers say they’re ready to see if these reforms can take maintain.

“If we offer good service, the business will develop and there might be extra passengers,” says Mr Leung.