Hong Kong’s government has defended its decision to approve a limited taxi fare increase against criticism from both passengers and drivers, saying it took the views of both sides into consideration.
Chief Executive John Lee and the Executive Council on Tuesday approved the increase as of July 14 for taxis servicing the urban areas, the New Territories and Lantau island.
Flagfall will rise by HK$2 to HK$29 for urban taxis, HK$25.5 for New Territories cabs and HK$24 for Lantau taxis. Incremental charges will rise as well. The adjustment faced criticism online as passengers complained about poor services from cabbies – who complained in turn that the increase was too meagre.
Commissioner for Transport Angela Lee said on Commercial Radio on Wednesday the government had considered the needs of different stakeholders after receiving the industry’s proposal for a HK$5 increase in flagfall.
“We were not only considering the interests of the industry, but also the affordability of passengers, ” Lee said in Cantonese, adding that the government has been rolling out measures to improve service quality.
The last increase in 2022 saw flagfall rise by HK$3.
Authorities last July announced reforms for taxi services, including strengthening punishments for drivers, relaxing passenger limits from five to six per vehicles and encouraging taxi owners to form “licensed taxi fleets” to raise service standards.
Lee said the application period to form taxi fleets was open until end of this month. The government would require fleets to accept electronic payments, an online booking system and a platform for passengers to give feedback about drivers.
HK$100-130 more income for each shift
Chow Kwok-keung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association, said on Commercial Radio on Wednesday he expected cabbies would earn an extra HK$100-HK$130 per eight-hour shift under the increase.
Accordingly, the rent which drivers must pay taxi owners would be increased later, Chow said, without giving details.
“Taxi driving is a job and if the salary doesn’t see any rise for a long time, workers will be very frustrated, ” Chow said in Cantonese, adding that the industry was facing difficult times.
“Now everything is expensive. It costs more for car repair, for insurance. And during the pandemic, revenue for taxi owners was really bad…” Chow said.
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