Rudeness tops list of complaints about Hong Kong taxi trade, survey finds
- Survey also found tourists gave a higher average score on taxi service quality, at 81 per cent, than residents, with an average of 58 per cent.
- Taxi industry representatives blame falling ratings compared to 2019 poll on ageing drivers and vehicles
The statement “drivers treat passengers politely” received the lowest rating in the survey, which was released on Monday. Only 35 per cent agreed with it and it mustered a score of 3.21 out of 5.
The poll found 55 per cent of passengers were satisfied with the taxi trade, but 37 per cent labelled the service average and a little over 8 per cent rated the service as “unsatisfactory” or “extremely unsatisfactory”.
The last survey, carried out in the second quarter of 2019, found about 70 per cent of passengers thought the taxi service was satisfactory. The poll was suspended for three years because of Covid-19.
The Hong Kong Taxi Council, which released the results of the service quality survey, blamed the falling ratings on an ageing workforce and fleet.
Ryan Wong Cheuk-pong, the council chairman, appealed to the government to ban online car-hailing services, such as Uber, to help tackle the problem.
“Online car-hailing services are more flexible in terms of service time and fares, so it has attracted many young drivers,” Wong explained. “But such services are not regulated by the government and customers may find it difficult to defend their rights.
“The government should outlaw such services, or else the ageing problem in the taxi industry cannot be solved.”
Wong also said that some owners were reluctant to replace old cabs with newer ones because they might want to obtain a government subsidy under the Green Energy Transport Fund, which refunds up to HK$3 million (US$382,970) of the cost of a new electric cab.
But it was not all bad news for the taxi trade.
A total of 47 per cent of respondents agreed that “the vehicles are neat and tidy”, which notched up the highest average score at 3.45.
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The survey was carried out in April and early May and polled 1,211 passengers, 90 per cent of them from the city.
The poll used a questionnaire made up of 13 metrics, covering areas such as vehicle conditions, drivers’ attitudes and convenience.
Ride-hailing services cannot be legally provided in Hong Kong without a hire-car permit, and Uber has come under attack by the taxi industry, which has 18,163 licensed cabs.
Passengers like the online hailing service because drivers turn up fast and the cashless fare payment system was convenient.
Wong added the industry would not consider the importation of labour from outside Hong Kong unless the problems intensified.
“Taxi drivers have to be very familiar with Hong Kong and should communicate well in Cantonese. It is inappropriate to have imported drivers at this stage,” he said.
The survey also found tourists gave a higher average score on taxi service quality, at 81 per cent, than residents, with an average of 58 per cent.
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The gap between scores from tourists and Hongkongers widened compared to 2019, when tourists rated service quality at 69.72, just seven points higher than residents.
He Wenbo, a tourist from mainland China’s Hunan province, said: “I think taxis in Hong Kong are quite good as Hongkongers behave in a good manner and I think the prices are reasonable.”
The 35-year-old said he had spotted some social media posts about how mainland tourists were ripped off by Hong Kong taxi drivers.
But he said he had never had a bad experience with the city’s taxi trade.
Nicolas Conpoyan, a 60-year-old office worker who has lived in Hong Kong for 30 years, agreed the city’s cabbies provided a good service.
Conpoyan added he would rate the service provided at 70 out of 100 – but had one major complaint.
“I think the drivers are not very polite,” he said.
