The air is laced with cigarette smoke and Cantonese profanity as six taxi drivers hang out in a fire-engine-red cab in a quiet corner of Hong Kong’s gritty Prince Edward district. There is.
During the afternoon handover, the day shift driver hands over the taxi to the night shift driver. They hand over their wads to taxi agents, matriarchal figures who collect car rentals, manage schedules, and offer unsolicited advice on how to exercise more or quit smoking. The drivers waved her off.
In a city of more than 7 million people, there may be no more difficult task than trying to change the habits of taxi drivers. Often grumpy and rushing for the next fare, Hong Kong’s taxi drivers have been working their way for decades, reflecting the fast-paced and frenetic culture that has long animated the city. I’ve been doing it.
However, taxi drivers are under pressure to keep up with the times. Passengers are fed up with reckless driving, curt treatment and often having to pay for fares in cash, one of the strangest anomalies of life in Hong Kong. This practice is so ingrained that airport officials often have to warn travelers at taxi ranks that they need to carry banknotes.
The government is trying to curb taxi drivers due to complaints and to boost tourism. Authorities ran a campaign over the summer urging drivers to be more polite. They tracked drivers’ bad behavior, such as overcharging or refusing passengers, and imposed a points system that could lead to license revocation.
In early December, the government proposed requiring all taxis to have systems that accept credit cards and digital payments by the end of 2025, and adding surveillance cameras by the end of 2026.
As expected, many taxi drivers oppose the idea of increased supervision.
“Do you want to be watched all the time?” said Lau Bingwan, a 75-year-old taxi driver with graying hair who only accepts cash. “The government is asking for too many orders.”
please take a seat
If new regulations are introduced, they would mark the end of an era in an industry that has long been abnormal in Hong Kong. world class transportation system. Every day, millions of people commute safely on sophisticated subways and reliable, air-conditioned double-decker buses.
In comparison, taking a taxi can be an adventure. Step inside Hong Kong’s iconic four-door Toyota Crown Comfort taxi and you’ll be greeted by a man in his sixties or older with a number of cell phones lined up along the dashboard (what’s the opposite of a meet and greet?). Track horse racing results with GPS navigation and more. There will be no exchange of prizes. Expect the gas pedal to be pressed all the way to the floor.
As you speed through the city’s notoriously narrow streets, you reflexively grip the steering wheel, trying not to slip off the midnight blue vinyl seats. Finally, before you arrive at your destination, prepare small bills and change so you don’t anger the driver with a time-consuming exit.
“When you’re being dropped off by car, you have to hurry,” said Sylvia He, a professor of urban studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He, like many residents of this city, feels accustomed to walking on eggshells around taxis. “I don’t want to delay my next order.”
For many taxi drivers, their impatient and surly demeanor is a reflection of their harsh reality. When you’re scraping by in a business with diminishing financial rewards, you can’t waste time on social favors. For example, 63-year-old driver Lau Man-hung skips meals and bathroom breaks just to keep driving long enough to bring home about $2,500 a month. The most expensive city in the world.
“Some customers are too mafang,” Lau said, using the Cantonese word for causing trouble or annoyance. “They like to complain about which route to take. They say go faster.”
Fragile economics of the industry
Driving a taxi was once a decent way to make a living. However, business conditions have become even more difficult due to the economic slowdown in mainland China. The city has struggled to regain its tourist appeal, and bars and nightclubs that once drew crowds packed into narrow alleys now draw fewer revelers.
Even before the recession, some taxi license holders were struggling. Taxi licenses are restricted by the government and traded in a poorly regulated market. A decade ago, a speculative bubble drove prices up to nearly $1 million per license before bursting, leaving some owners with huge losses.
The license is now worth about two-thirds of its peak value a decade ago. Many licensed companies and drivers are more focused on recouping losses than improving service.
Tin Shing Motors is a family-run company that manages drivers and sells taxi license mortgages and taxi insurance. Chris Chan, 47, a third-generation member of the company, said Ting Sing still had mortgages from buying licenses at a time when they were worth much more.
In order to pay off the debt little by little, Chan needs to rent a taxi whenever possible. However, I am having trouble finding a driver. Many taxi drivers are aging, and young people are mostly staying away from the demanding job. He added that profit margins have been decreasing, especially as premiums have nearly doubled in recent years. Despite operating in a gray area in Hong Kong, Uber is losing many customers.
“It’s getting harder and harder to make money,” Chan said.
At the bottom of the list are drivers, about half of whom are over 60 years old. Many people cannot afford to retire. Even after paying for gas and car rental, he still has to earn about $14 an hour to break even. For them, it is better to have cash on hand than to wait days for an electronic payment to complete.
Blue-collar jobs become specialized
Tensions between the public and taxi drivers play out as they point fingers at each other. When the government introduced a civility campaign last year, one driver told a television reporter that it was the passenger who had been rude.
In many ways, Hong Kong taxi drivers embody the stressful, no-frills culture of Hong Kong’s working class. Their surliness is no different from the service you get at Char Chan Teng, the ubiquitous local cafe that cheers the masses on with egg sandwiches, instant noodles, and saccharine-sweet milk tea. The servers are curt but fast.
“Once people have a bad experience, they tend to remember it for the rest of their lives,” said Hung Win Tat, a former professor who has studied the taxi industry. “So the public gets the impression that all taxi drivers are bad people, even though most of them just want to make a living. They don’t want any trouble.”
In fact, there are taxi drivers like Joe Fung, 45. He sees no value in antagonizing customers and has sought to meet the needs of passengers.
“Why are we fighting?” said Mr. Fong. “We need each other. You need a car and I need money.”
Fung maximizes his income by splitting his time between driving his own car for Uber and taxis for a taxi company called Alliance. Mr. Fong has five cell phones taped to his dashboard. He welcomes electronic payments and didn’t raise an eyebrow when the Alliance installed cameras in all taxis last year.
“I’m not like those old people,” Fung said. He drives one of Hong Kong’s new hybrid taxis, made by Toyota, which looks like a cross between a London taxi and a PT Cruiser. “The world has changed and we have to accept it.”
olivia wang Contributed to the report.
