More than 3,500 new taxis operated by five companies will start hitting the streets of Hong Kong this month, the government has said.
Mable Chan, the secretary for transport and logistics, said on Monday that the first taxi fleet, operated by Tai Wo Management, would commence its service by the end of March, while the remaining four fleets were expected to roll out by late July.
“We expect those five taxi fleets to play a leading role in the industry, injecting new impetus into the taxi trade and providing more quality services,” Chan said in Cantonese during a launch ceremony.
The 3,500-strong new fleets – nearly one-fifth of the total number of taxis in Hong Kong – are a mix of hybrid, electric and wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Electric vehicles will comprise more than half of the fleets.
Last July, the government issued taxi fleet licences to five companies, including local cab operators and new joint ventures in the transport industry, in a bid to boost taxi services amid long-standing dissatisfaction with the city’s cabbies.
Apart from Tai Wo Management, which operates “Joie” taxis, the other licensees are Big Boss Taxi Company, SynCab Service, CMG Fleet Management, and Sino Development (International) Company, whose fleets are called Big Boss, SynCab, Amigo, and Big Bee, respectively.
Unlike existing cabs – which are red in urban areas, green in the New Territories and blue on Lantau Island – the new taxi fleets have their own colour and design to help passengers identify them.
Big Bee cabs, for example, are in yellow and orange, while Amigo taxis – which means “friend” in Spanish – are in neon pink.
According to the Transport Department, the operators should commence their services by July, one year after they obtained the licences.
The companies are also required to run 60 per cent of their fleets by the end of July, a government spokesperson told HKFP, adding that a total of 2,100 taxis will be operating by that time.
Premium services
Sonia Cheng, the executive director of SynCab – one of the licensed taxi fleet operators – told HKFP on Monday that the company had a total of 50 cabs operating on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and in the New Territories since its soft launch last December.
SynCab has committed to providing a total of 425 cabs, Cheng said.
“As of today, the fleet has completed 26,000 trips although we had not done much promotion,” she said in Cantonese. “It means there is a need for taxis with premium services.”
Chan, the transport minister, said that each vehicle should provide multiple electronic payment methods and be equipped with advanced safety devices, such as dashcams, GPS, and driver-monitoring systems.
