Hong Kong’s Transport Commissioner Winnie Tse used a radio interview on 28 July to press the territory’s five newly licensed taxi fleets to “work harder” at recruiting drivers, warning that the target of 3,500 fleet vehicles is still some way off more than a year after the reform programme began. Only about 2,000 vehicles and 2,400 drivers are currently on the road. Fleet taxis differ from conventional cabs in that they operate under corporate licences that require GPS tracking, cashless payments, uniform branding and service-quality metrics similar to ride-hailing platforms. To improve connectivity for visitors, the Transport Department has already created 16 dedicated fleet-taxi stopping zones, including Hong Kong International Airport, the West Kowloon high-speed-rail terminus and several land-boundary control points such as Shenzhen Bay and the soon-to-open Huanggang Port. The Commissioner revealed that more than 20 government-sponsored job fairs have been organised to help operators woo talent, yet fleets have only reached about 85 per cent of their committed size. She appealed to hotels, tour operators and large employers to make greater use of fleet taxis, arguing that reliable point-to-point transport is essential if Hong Kong is to regain its reputation for hassle-free business travel. For corporate mobility managers the message is clear: fleet taxis will become the preferred option for airport transfers and cross-border trips because they guarantee electronic receipts, multilingual driver support and the ability to pre-book through an app—features often lacking in the city’s fragmented traditional taxi sector. Companies may wish to update travel policies to specify fleet-taxi use where available and brief staff on the new colour schemes (sky-blue livery for urban areas, green for the New Territories) so they can identify compliant vehicles easily. Assuming fleets can close the manpower gap, officials expect full roll-out by early 2027, in time for the Asian Games and other major events that will test Hong Kong’s ground-transport capacity.
Source: RTHK
