Hong Kong authorities have warned ride-hailing platform operators to ensure their services are legal ahead of a meeting with them, as more than 30 disgruntled taxi drivers demonstrated outside the city government headquarters and petitioned for tougher law enforcement against illegal services.
The Transport and Logistics Bureau issued a statement on Friday morning expressing concerns about illegal platforms and the private car drivers who used them to offer rides without proper permits.
It said it would meet with ride-hailing operators later in the day on the back of a two-hour meeting with taxi industry leaders on Thursday over how to regulate the platforms and crack down on illegal services.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
“The bureau has received the taxi representatives’ petition letter and will communicate closely with industry stakeholders while pressing ahead with the legislation of the operations of the platforms to ensure the general public will have access to safe and convenient point-to-point services,” the statement said.
It is currently illegal in Hong Kong for drivers of private vehicles to accept paid customers without a hire-car permit, with many ride-hailing platforms such as Uber, Tada, Amap and Didi Chuxing operating unregulated. Amap is operated by Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the South China Morning Post.
A framework for regulating the platforms is expected to go before lawmakers this year.
Outside government headquarters in Admiralty, over 30 cabbies gathered on Friday to chant slogans and submit a petition calling for transport authorities to take action against private-hire drivers, whom they said were severely impacting the operations of the “legitimate” transport industry.
“The actual enforcement effort is disappointing, leading to increasingly rampant illegal operations which infringe upon the rights of legitimate operators,” said taxi industry representative Chow Kwok-keung.
He pointed to some cabbies who received “unfair comments” from online users, who said they “deserved to suffer” while praising illegal operators.
“The industry has always worked to serve society ... this is disheartening,” Chow said.
He also highlighted that taxi drivers were unsatisfied with some lawmakers who showed support for the ride-hailing services, saying they “deviated from the spirit of the rule of law”.
The cabbies that gathered at government headquarters chanted slogans saying authorities were “fending off taxi drivers’ interest”. One of them, Lam Chi-chung, accused those without hire-car permits that used ride-hailing services of “robbing” taxi drivers.
But he also criticised some unscrupulous taxi drivers who overcharged fares or treated passengers badly as black sheep who blemished the reputation of the taxi industry.
Lam threatened that cabbies could escalate their actions through hunger strikes to fight for their right to provide services, while some of the petitioners said they would head to the Office of the Ombudsman to complain about illegal service providers.
The day before, Commissioner for Transport Angela Lee Chung-yan had met around 20 taxi trade representatives and lawmakers to discuss the issue.
“Combating illegal carriage of passengers for reward activities, regulating online car-hailing platforms and improving taxi service are the common goals of both the government and the trade,” she said on Thursday.
At the meeting, industry leaders made suggestions on how to regulate online ride-hailing platforms, their vehicles and drivers, while Lee said she was “pleased to note” that the taxi representatives agreed on the need to improve their quality of service.
On the same day, Hong Kong police disguised as passengers arrested two men providing illegal ride-hailing services through online platforms.
The force carried out similar operations in the past week across Hong Kong, arresting a few drivers each time.
Last year, some taxi drivers launched a series of “undercover missions” by posing as Uber passengers and reporting their drivers to police as tensions within the trade escalated.
Additional reporting by Joshua Kwok
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong police arrest drunk passenger for alleged assault on taxi driver
- 43% jump in elderly taxi drivers involved in accidents in Hong Kong since 2022
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
