The government has tabled a bill to regulate rail-hailing services, with their drivers required to take the same exams as those in the taxi trade.
At a bills committee in the legislature, the secretary for transport and logistics told lawmakers that the new tests are a response to demands from the taxi trade, and she hopes the tests will help bring new blood to the industry.
“We will make improvements to the tests such as adding more questions to do with enhancing taxi service quality,” Chan said.
“At the same time, we are responding to public demands by significantly reducing and simplifying questions to do with locations and routes.”
The bill would also cap the age of vehicles used for ride-hailing at 12 years, up from the seven years initially proposed by the government.
Election Committee sector lawmaker Chan Siu-hung said some taxi operators find this unfair.
He noted that vehicles used in new taxi fleets that started operating in March can only be three years old at most.
Mable Chan said in response that regulating ride-hailing services can bring positive competition.
“We’re moving from the current lack of regulation to a stringent regulatory framework,” she said.
“I think from this point of view, our regulation should provide greater operational clarity for the taxi industry.”
The minister stressed that the framework will allow all parties in the door-to-door service ecosystem to co-exist and complement each other.
Transport sector lawmaker Frankie Yick cited government figures as showing that only a small amount of people use ride-hailing services.
He questioned whether the convenience such services provide users will come at the expense of other people, being as more vehicles on the roads will worsen traffic jams.
The transport minister noted that Hong Kong plans to cap the number of ride-hailing vehicles, unlike many other places, given the road constraints and traffic volumes.
She said the government hopes the bill will be passed before Legco’s term ends in around a month’s time.
