Taxi fleets to commence service gradually and mark important milestone in taxi trade's development (with photos)
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The Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, accompanied by the Under Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Mr Liu Chun-san, and the Commissioner for Transport, Ms Angela Lee, attended the Taxi Fleet Launching Ceremony at the Transport Department (TD) Vehicle Examination Complex this morning. Other officiating guests were Legislative Council (LegCo) Member (Transport) Mr Frankie Yick; LegCo Member Dr Chan Han-pan; the Chairman of the LegCo Panel on Transport, Mr Chan Siu-hung; and the Deputy Chairman of the LegCo Panel on Transport, Mr Yiu Pak-leung.
Addressing the Launching Ceremony, Ms Chan said that the Taxi Fleet Launching Ceremony marked an important milestone of the taxi trade's development in Hong Kong. The Government introduced a series of measures to enhance taxi services in the past two years, and the introduction of a new taxi fleet regime was one of the key initiatives. Under the TD's regulatory regime, operators form fleets with professional management and good use of technologies to provide quality service for passengers, bringing a new look to the taxi trade.
She said that, following years of development and challenges, the taxi trade in Hong Kong can only make continuous improvement in the taxi service level to meet the expectations of the public and tourists by keeping up with the times with proactive and innovative reforms. She said she looks forward to the taxi fleets playing a leading role, injecting new impetus into the taxi trade and providing more quality services.
At the Launching Ceremony, representatives of the five selected operators (in alphabetical order of company name), namely Big Boss Taxi Company Limited, CMG Fleet Management Limited, Sino Development (International) Company Limited, SynCab Service Limited and Tai Wo Management Limited, introduced the features and highlights of their fleets respectively, including the vehicle models to be deployed, their body designs and logos, compartment facilities and safety devices.
The selected operators comprise three urban fleets and two mixed fleets, with a size ranging from 300 to 1 000 taxis each, providing a total of over 3 500 taxis, which account for nearly 20 per cent of the total number of taxis in Hong Kong. The selected operators will deploy about 1 500 new vehicles as fleet taxis at the time of service commencement. They will provide electric taxis, wheelchair-accessible taxis and premium taxis for passengers to promote green transport and cater for the diverse travel needs of individuals.
To ensure service quality, all fleets must provide online hailing services, customer service hotlines and different electronic communication channels for passengers to select appropriate vehicle types based on their needs, and rate driver services. In addition, all fleet taxis will provide multiple electronic payment means, while safety devices and driver monitoring systems will be equipped for passengers' convenience and driving safety. For passengers' easy identification, all fleet taxis are required to display a fleet taxi certificate and a fleet taxi plate.
The TD issued conditional grants of the Taxi Fleet Licence to five selected operators in end-July 2024, and they are required to complete the gearing-up work and commence service within one year. The first fleet is expected to start service by end-March 2025 the earliest. The TD will monitor the fleet's operations and continue to actively promote the remaining fleets to commence operations as soon as possible.
Ends/Monday, March 3, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:11
Issued at HKT 15:11
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