Measures for Improving Taxi Service (2016/01/20)

MR YIU SI-WING: Deputy President, the Secretary also mentioned in the main reply earlier on that complaints about taxi service has been on the rise in the recent decade and has seriously tarnished Hong Kong's reputation. The Government is prepared to introduce premium taxi service or franchise to improve the overall service quality, which I think is well-intentioned, but given that according to the third paragraph of the main reply, some 18 000 taxi licences have been issued in Hong Kong, the issuance of new licences would only intensify competition in the industry and put greater pressure on road traffic. To avoid vicious competition, the Government has put forward two proposals, with one being the introduction of premium taxi licences. Just as Mr YICK has said, I think the Government should solicit views from the taxi trade, which also has its own thinking. It is possible that by making adjustments, it may provide quality service. I think this is worth considering by the Government. As for the other proposal to further improve the licensing arrangements for hire car service, I however would like to call on the Government to give further consideration to it because, as I am aware, applications submitted by some companies almost a year ago have yet to be approved. I would like to ask if the Secretary would consider streamlining the application procedures for licence for these companies so as to enable them to provide car hire services of better quality? 

SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING: Deputy President, Mr YIU mentioned that if the Government, after conducting the study, considers the proposal desirable and introduces premium taxi service, it should ensure that there is reasonable and healthy competition. We agree to this point. Therefore, in my main reply, I also mentioned that when we introduce the premium taxi service, we will definitely consider in a holistic manner the number of premium taxis and other relevant details having regard to the overall situation of this kind of point-to-point taxi service in Hong Kong, so as to ensure reasonable and healthy competition as well as long-term sustainability of various public transport services. The introduction of premium taxi, however, is not intended to replace the existing ordinary taxis, but to boost the service quality of ordinary taxis at the same time. Instead of establishing a licensing regime for premium taxis, we hope to adopt a franchise model. Therefore, in the future, the licences issued will no longer be irrevocable or transferrable.

Regarding the car hire service, we propose to improve the monitoring and management system concerned to, inter alia, make the assessment criteria for the relevant applications more responsive to society's demand for such service, including the hire of limousine service.