My Take | Hong Kong taxis need to shift gear so that every cab is ‘premium’
Government action should not have been necessary as it was in the industry’s interest to embrace technology and offer excellent service
Hong Kong’s taxi industry is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Moves to legitimise and regulate ride-hailing firms while improving services offered by cabbies are long overdue.
But members of the influential taxi trade continue to push for privileges and block the path to progress. The government must take the handbrake off – and accelerate.
Officials have had to go to extraordinary lengths to modernise the industry and lift standards.
Taxis are to be required to offer at least two forms of digital payment and install cameras and devices to record their trips. There is a new disciplinary system and fleets of new “premium” taxis have hit the streets.
None of this should have been necessary. The taxi industry should have eagerly embraced technology and offered excellent service. That is the best way of competing with popular ride-hailing firms.
The most important requirement is to guarantee passenger safety. The death of a tourist from the Philippines this month, knocked down by a “dizzy” 80-year-old taxi driver, has renewed long-standing concerns about the roadworthiness of elderly cabbies.