People hailing taxis in Hong Kong face a 17 percent increase in fares if authorities approve a proposal from the taxi industry.
The Transport and Logistics Bureau confirmed on Monday that it has received the industry’s proposal for fare hikes and the bureau will seek advice from lawmakers and the Transport Advisory Committee as well as consider people’s ability to pay higher prices before it makes recommendations to the decision-making Executive Council.
For red urban taxis, the industry proposed raising the flagfall charge from HK$27 ($3.45) to HK$32, and for the green New Territories taxis and the blue Lantau taxis, it has proposed raising charges to HK$28, from HK$23.5 and HK$22 respectively, according to a document submitted to the Legislative Council.
The document also proposes increasing the metered fare in increments of 20 cents. For blue taxi rides of less than 20 kilometers, the hike would be 10 cents.
Urban taxis have also applied to charge passengers every 45 seconds when waiting, instead of the existing interval of 60 seconds.
The proposed average fare increases for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, the New Territories and Lantau taxis are 16.95 percent, 15.37 percent and 11.68 percent, respectively.
Red and green taxis have proposed increasing the fee for handling additional items — with the cost of handling each piece of luggage, pet or bird to be raised to HK$7. Lantau taxis are proposing to charge passenger HK$8 per item of luggage, pet or bird. All taxis have proposed an HK$8 charge booking fee.
The bureau said that it would review the proposal carefully before submitting it to the Executive Council for deliberation.
The bureau stated that under normal circumstances, it would consider the fare increase application based on criteria such as whether the public can afford the proposed hike, the taxi operators’ financial sustainability, the need to maintain taxi services at acceptable levels in terms of vehicle supply, passengers’ waiting time, as well as passengers’ opinions on services and other aspects.
Contact the writer at fangxue@chinadailyhk.com
