Taxis of Hong Kong
Hong Kong taxicabs are the principal[
As of 2023, there are taxis in Hong Kong, of which 15,250 were urban taxis, 2,838 were New Territories taxis, and 75 were Lantau taxis. Every day they serve about 1.1 million, 207,900 and 1,400 people respectively.[1][2]
History
19th century
During the early colonial times,
Much the same as motor cars nowadays, private chairs existed and were an important marker of a person's status. A civil officer's status was denoted by the number of bearers attached to his chair.[3]
Their numbers peaked in about 1920, when 1,215 registered sedan chairs were on the road.[4]
The
However, the popularity of rickshaws waned after World War II. No new licences for rickshaws have been issued since 1975, and licences became non-transferable. Thus, a dying breed of only a few old men still ply their trade at the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier, mainly for tourists. The rickshaw drawers charged HK$300 to go around the block.[5] There were about eight in 1998,[4] and only four left in 2002, and two in 2011.
The last sedan chair was reportedly abandoned in 1965,[4] and since the relocation of the Central Star Ferry pier at the end of 2006 the rickshaws have disappeared.
20th century
The Chinese name for taxi used in Hong Kong, dik si (的士), is a Cantonese transliteration of the English word "taxi". The earliest pioneer of the modern taxi service may have been Wu Zung (胡忠). In 1941, he is believed to have owned 40 taxis, including 10
The service was first officially recorded by the
Prior to 1974, the livery of taxis in Hong Kong depended on colours chosen by the licensees, although the Transport Department had noted considerable confusion for passengers caused by the proliferation of colours and mingling with private vehicles, and by December 1969 had started considering a uniform appearance for licensed taxis. On 13 September 1974, the government gazetted standard colours – silver for the upper half and red for the lower half – for all taxicabs in Hong Kong to weed out illegal taxis.[8] As most of the vehicles would cluster in Kowloon due to it being the population centre, and demand in the New Territories was being met by illegal operators, a licensed taxi service catering only for the New Territories was announced on 5 June 1976. From then onwards, "ordinary" (red) taxis would be allowed to continue to operate in the New Territories as well as Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, while the New Territories taxis – silver for the upper half and green for the lower half – would be forbidden from venturing into urban areas.[8] A batch of 20 blue taxis that serve Lantau Island started operating in 1983.
Licence
The taxi trade is regulated by the Government, as are the fare scales. Taxis need a licence to operate in Hong Kong.
The service area of the three types of taxis are defined by the Government in the 1960s.[9] The need for the three different types was to avoid clustering of taxis in the more populated/profitable areas of the territory and a shortage in others.[10] All three types of taxis serve Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and The Disneyland Resort.
Since 1964, the Transport Department has introduced a system of public tender of taxi licences.[11] Taxi licences are transferable after one year from the date of issue, and licence holders are given a perpetual operating right. Furthermore, taxi licences can be renewed every year on the payment of an annual licence fee, and there are no licence renewal prerequisites such as taxi driver qualification or taxi service quality examination.[12]
The government stopped issuing licences in 1994, when there were a total of 18,138 in the territory. Existing licences are transferable and are traded on the open market, and prices have been rising due to speculation, with fare rises tending to feed into the price of licences. The going cost for a licence in 2011 is around HK$5 million – an increase of 36% from the year before. In 2013, the market price peaked at $7 million.[13][14]
The trading of taxi licences is easy, and legislative regulatory control hardly exists. The perpetual nature and easy transferability of taxi licences, the recent frozen supply of taxi licences, and the free trading market system in Hong Kong make taxi licences not only an operating requirement in the taxi industry but also an investment asset. Through various taxi licence exchange markets, licences can be cashed in at retirement, at changing jobs, or simply to make a profit. These factors shape our current taxi licence system with characteristics different from other overseas cities/countries.[12]
Urban taxi
The red taxis have the highest fares among all, and serve all areas of New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. They may also run the north of Lantau Island, Chek Lap Kok and Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, but they are not permitted to run on most of Discovery Bay and the part south to Shek Mun Kap.
A taxi will sometimes appear with its roof light on, but with the 'For Hire' flag covered by an 'Out of Service' sign; this means they are currently travelling to pick up passengers that have booked a ride through electronic or telephone booking, or are attempting to catch a fare back across the harbour tunnel.
There is no legal requirement for drivers to know all the destinations in their allowed area. Commonly, drivers refuse to take passengers wanting to cross the harbour on this basis, although in theory drivers do not have the right to refuse a hire based on destination. On both sides of the harbour, the Government has erected taxi ranks catering for those returning taxis prepared to cross the harbour for a single-toll trip.
New Territories taxi
The green taxis, the second most expensive, serve only parts of the New Territories, including Tai Po District, Northern District, Yuen Long District, Tuen Mun District, Sai Kung, West of Ting Kau, North of Tai Mo Shan Country Park, Ma On Shan, Ma Liu Shui and Wan Po Road north of Shek Kok Road. They are allowed to use indicated routes by the Transport Department to serve the specially designed New Territories Taxi Stands at the following destinations out of the New Territories Taxi service: Shun Lee Estate (which is in fact in Kowloon), Hang Hau Station, Tsing Yi Station and Tsuen Wan Station, which are mainly designated interchange with red taxis and MTR; Tseung Kwan O Hospital (only the A&E), Sha Tin Racecourse (near Penfold Park), Prince of Wales Hospital, the Airport Ground Transportation Center, Terminal No.1, Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and Disneyland.
Lantau taxi
The light blue taxis run in most of Lantau Island and Chek Lap Kok, except most of Discovery Bay, thus they are restricted to a small area. They are exclusive in the case that they can serve south Lantau Island. They are not quite as ubiquitous: there are only around 75 of them. There have been reports of some unofficial, unlicensed taxis in blue livery operating around these regions.[citation needed]
Competitions
- Taxi groups versus ride-hailing services
Currently, drivers with three years of experience have to go through a process of testing and certification before they could qualify as taxi drivers. The council's proposal that drivers for e-hailing services need only three years of experience, without similar test requirements, was, in their opinion, much too lax.
But the council also recommends that all e-hailing drivers undergo background security checks, have the necessary language skills and are sufficiently healthy before they are considered suitable candidates. This will act as an additional safeguard for passenger safety.
In terms of fare charges, the industry questions why, while taxi fares are bound by the meter, e-hailing services are not subject to any fare control and are free to set their own fare according to the road conditions and rush-hour periods. As taxis – whether traditional operators or the e-hailing kind – are part of the public transport system, it is only natural that their fares should be regulated. Indeed, e-hailing taxi services in different territories are subject to fare controls of one kind or another.[15]
Cars used
Historically,
All taxis bear a semi-circular green plate on the front grille, and at the back of the vehicle indicating the number of seats available. Throughout history, most Hong Kong taxis have been 4-door saloons with bench seats in the front, thus allowing it to carry up to five passengers (driver excluded). In the early 1980s, 4-passenger taxis were introduced. Smaller saloons such as the Nissan Bluebird 910, Nissan Sunny B12, Toyota Corona (CT141) and the Mitsubishi Lancer were used. However, these were all phased out by the mid-1990s. Since then and until 2008, all Hong Kong taxis have been 5-passengers vehicles. But from 2008, the new Toyota Comfort equipped with new 2.0 VVT-i engine and equipped with floor shift automatic instead of column shift automatic, making the new Comfort a 4-passengers taxi again.
Australian Ford Falcon estate cars tried to enter the market in year 2000 but they were never popular.
Today, almost all taxis in Hong Kong are XS10 Toyota Comforts (over 99%), the minority being Nissan Cedric (Y31) saloons which were discontinued from the end of 2005.
On 29 May 2007, there were reports that plans are afoot to introduce the
In February 2013, Crown Motors introduced the Toyota Prius (XW30) Hybrid Taxi to the HK Taxi lineup, but it is still an uncommon sight on the road.
In May 2013, Nissan had re-updated a newer
On 11 December 2014, Honest Motors unveiled the Nissan NV200 Taxi in Hong Kong. The taxi is powered by both gasoline and LPG.
On 5 February 2015, Ford introduced the Ford Transit Connect Taxi, powered by a LPG 2.5L i-VCT engine.
In 2017, Toyota discontinued production of Comfort and LPG Comfort, and started producing the new JPN Taxi for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The JPN Taxi was introduced in Hong Kong as the Comfort Hybrid with a 1NZ-FPX I4 LPG engine in a hybrid system. The first batch of Comfort Hybrids was shipped to Hong Kong in July 2018.
All taxis are imported new; there is a type approval process for approving the models of cars to be used as taxis (which means unapproved models cannot be used as taxis). However, used parts from Japan are frequently used, so sometimes there are Japanese stickers on the taxis' doors.
Most importers just import red colour base cars. For green and blue taxis, the owners have to convert the cars into the correct colour, and they usually only paint the exterior, so people can still see the original red colour from the door gap or engine compartment.
Fuels
Until the late 1990s, all Hong Kong taxis ran on
Fares
A fare table must be displayed clearly inside the taxi, by law. The same legally-enforceable fare table is also listed on the government's website.
There is an additional charge of $6 for every piece of baggage, light personal hand baggage carried inside passenger compartment are not included. Every animal or bird carried on board are charged with $5. Wheelchairs and crutches carried by disabled passengers are free of charge. Every hiring arranged through telephone booking is charged with $5. [20]
Taxi passengers wishing to cross the Victoria harbour are required to pay the tunnel toll fee (and a return fee) of $25 (+$25),[21] unless the hiring begins from a cross-harbour taxi stand or the final destination is not on the opposite side of the harbour. Taxi passengers going through a tunnel with a toll is required to pay the toll fee only.
In July 2007, it was reported that many taxi drivers were engaged in rampant illegal price-cutting in their competition with call-cab drivers for passengers. Rates offered were up to 20% lower than the metered fares on long-distance trips, with competition being particularly fierce on the airport route. The warring factions took turns to blockade Hong Kong International Airport to air their grievances.[22] Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, chairman of the Legislative Council's transport panel, proposed cutting taxi fares to deal with illicit discounting. Representatives of call-cab drivers and taxi owners were opposed to the idea.[23] Urban taxi groups have been lobbying for permission to impose a HK$1 per trip fuel surcharge when the price of liquefied petroleum gas per litre is between HK$3.10 and HK$4. Legislative Councillors unanimously passed a motion urging the government to allow taxis to impose the surcharge. However, the vote was non-binding on the Government. The Transportation Secretary rejected the appeal.[24]
Different taxi light modes
Each taxi has a light on top of the vehicle which is illuminated when the taxi is available for hire. A "flag" visible on top of the dash board marked "for hire" also indicates a taxi is available. A taxi may have an 'Out of Service' sign on whenever the taxi is not available for hire, e.g., shift-changing. Passengers are not permitted to hire a taxi displaying an 'Out of Service' sign. Taxi drivers may continue to have a lit roof sign and 'For Hire' flag up if they are looking for customers wishing to head to areas in their service (e.g., an urban taxi in the New Territories, looking for fares heading to the urban area).
Representation
Taxi drivers' interests and those of owners are not necessarily aligned. Hong Kong Taxi Owners Association represents owners of taxi licences, and drivers, who are most frequently are not owners but who rent their vehicles on a daily basis, are represented by the Motor Transport Workers General Union.[8] In 2013, day-time drivers would pay upwards of HK$380 for each shift, and night shift drivers would pay HK$350. Owners would dispute with drivers' groups as they seek to increase the daily rental charge each time taxi fares increased.[14]
See also
- Taxicabs by country
- Transport in Hong Kong
- Toyota Comfort
References
- ^ "Transport – Hong Kong: The Facts" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
- ^ "Transport Department - Taxis".
- ^ a b c A Hong Kong Sedan Chair, Illustrations of China and Its People, John Thomson 1837–1921, (London,1873–1874)
- ^ a b c d e Nury Vittachi, Riding out the rickshaw days Archived 1 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 28 March 1998
- ^ Kai Peter Yu, The way it was in those balmy days Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 30 January 1999
- ^ "The construction of Hong Kong" Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Guangzhou government (广州市地方志馆). Retrieved 4 July 2007 (in Chinese)
- ^ HK Gov. "Taxi Annual Traffic report. Archived 6 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine", Transport Department, HK Government. Retrieved 23 February 2007
- ^ a b c Sheets, Andrew (18 August 2016). "How Hong Kong taxis became red, green and blue". South China Morning Post.
- ^ Transport Department, HK Government. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
- ^ District Commissioner. [2006] Annual Departmental Report, New Territories. Nonprinted. No ISBN.
- ^ Transport Department [Government publication]. (2019, February 26). Retrieved from https://www.td.gov.hk/en/transport_in_hong_kong/public_transport/taxi/index.html.
- ^ S2CID 154640950.
- ^ "Investors queue up for HK$5m taxi ride", South China Morning Post, Anita Lam, 7 February 2011.
- ^ a b "Hong Kong taxi owners promise drivers to fare share of price hike". 26 September 2013.
- ^ Gilly Wong. Hong Kong’s taxi trade must face up to competition and technology, through gradual change to the industry. Insight & Opinion. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2131585/hong-kongs-taxi-trade-must-face-competition-and-technology
- ^ "Hackney Carriages to be introduced into Hong Kong". Ming Pao (in Chinese)
- ^ "Probability of London Taxis in Hong Kong". RTHK (in Chinese)
- ^ "'Premium taxi services' for Hongkongers to be explored as government rejects fuel levy bid". 28 July 2015.
- ^ "Executive Council approves taxi fare adjustments".
- ^ "Transport Department - Taxi fare of Hong Kong". www.td.gov.hk. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ "Harbour tunnel fees to change next week - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ Una So, "Light van man adds to airport taxi woe" Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 16 July 2007
- ^ Damon Pang, "Fare-cuts call for taxis hits skids" Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 23 July 2007
- ^ Nickkita Lau, "Taxi fuel surcharge drive shot down" Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 31 October 2007